ELD 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


Class 


OF  THE 

ERSITY. 


» 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 


THE  INDUCTION  OF 

HARRY  AUGUSTUS  GARFIELD,  LL.D. 

INTO  THE  OFFICE  OF 

PRESIDENT 

OCTOBER  SEVENTH 

MDCCCCVIII 


PRINTED  AT  THE  RIVERSIDE  PRESS 


Jl^-Jf 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 


N  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  June, 
1 907,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Trus- 
tees, heldinWiUiamstown, Harry 
Augustus  Garfield,  then  Profes- 
sor of  Politics  in  Princeton  Uni- 
versity, was  unanimously  elected 
President  of  Williams  College.  He  accepted  the 
election,  and  a  committee,  consisting  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Merriman,  Chairman,  Mr.  Delano,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Dewey,  President  Lefavour,  Professor  Perry,  Mr. 
Stetson,  and  Mr.  Warren,  was  appointed  to  make 
suitable  arrangements  for  his  induction  into  office. 
Later,  it  was  announced  that  the  induction  would 
take  place  October  the  seventh,  1908  —  a  date 
which  fell  on  the  one  hundred  and  fifteenth  anni- 
versary of  the  founding  of  the  College.  To  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Merriman  and  President  Lefavour,  as  a 
sub-committee,  was  assigned  the  laborious  task  of 
preparation.  Under  their  supervision  an  engraved 
invitation,  bearing  the  seal  of  the  College,  was  pre- 
pared and  sent  to  the  Governor  of  the  Common- 
wealth of  Massachusetts  and  to  Ambassador  Bryce  ; 
to  Presidents  and  Professors  of  Universities,  Col- 
leges, and  Theological  Seminaries ;  to  teachers  in 

1 


4  QOQO'V 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

Academies  and  High  Schools ;  and  to  represent- 
ative citizens  of  Massachusetts  and  other  states. 
Two  other  circulars  were  issued  by  direction  of 
the  committee,  one  of  which  was  addressed  to  the 
guests  and  delegates  from  academic  institutions, 
and  the  other  to  the  Alumni.  Of  the  latter  twenty- 
five  hundred  were  sent  out.  These  circulars  con- 
tained all  necessary  information  in  regard  to  the 
details  of  the  induction.  The  sub-committee  also 
provided  a  handsomely  printed  program  of  the  ex- 
ercises. Two  local  committees  were  appointed — a 
Committee  on  Arrangements,  consisting  of  Bentley 
W.  Warren,  Willard  E.  Hoyt,  and  Dean  Frederick 
C.  Ferry,  and  a  Committee  on  Entertainment,  con- 
sisting of  Bentley  W.  Warren,  Willard  E.  Hoyt, 
Dean  Frederick  C.  Ferry,  Rev.  Charles  W.  Burr, 
and  N.  Henry  Sabin.  All  these  committees  dis- 
charged their  duties  with  notable  success. 

The  following  gentlemen  served  as  marshals 
and  had  charge  of  the  formation  and  conduct  of 
the  procession  and  of  the  seating  of  guests  in  the 
Chapel  and  in  the  Congregational  Church  : 

Marshal-in-Chief 
Dean  Frederick  C.  Ferry 

Faculty  Marshal 

Professor  Henry  D.  Wild 

2 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

Marshals  for  the  Delegates  and  Guests 
Professor  William  E.  McElfresh 
Assistant  Professor  Lewis  Perry 

Alumni  Marshals 
Henry  W.  Banks,  Jr.,  '85 
Herbert  J.  Brown,  '85 

Special  Marshals 

Professor  James  G.  Hardy 

Assistant  Professor  Karl  E.  Weston 

Assistant  Professor  Monroe  N.  Wetmore 

Mr.  Elmer  I.  Shephard 

Mr.  Elmer  A.  Green 

Mr.  John  A.  Lowe 

Additional  Marshals 

Assistant  Professor  Theodore  F.  Collier 

Mr.  Samuel  E.  Allen 

Dr.  Frank  L.  Griffin 

Dr.  Carl  W.  Johnson 

Dr.  WilHam  L.  Kennon 

Dr.  Clyde  S.  Atcheson 

Mr.  John  S.  Galbraith 

Dr.  James  Taylor,  Jr.,  '95 

Mr.  Scott  S.  Durand,  '90 

Student  Marshals 

Gilbert  Horrax,  '09 

Gilbert  Livingstone  Morse,  '09 

3 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

Leon  Sherman  Pratt,  'lo 
Stuart  John  Templeton,  'lo 

The  following  delegates  from  educational  insti- 
tutions were  present : 

t 

DELEGATES    FROM    COLLEGES,    UNIVERSITIES,    AND 
THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARIES 

Harvard  University,   President   EHot  and  Professor 

A.  L.  Lowell 
Yale  University,  President  Hadley 
Princeton  University,  President  Wilson  and  Dean  Fine 
Columbia  University,  President  Butler 
Brown  University,  President  Faunce 
Rutgers  College,  President  Demarest 
Dartmouth  College,  Acting  President  Lord  and  Secre- 
tary Hopkins 
University  of  Vermont,  President  Buckham 
Bowdoin  College,  Professor  W.  T.  Foster 
Middlebury  College,  President  Thomas 
United  States  Military  Academy,  Colonel  Scott 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  Dean  Platner 
Hamilton  College,  Professor  F.  H.  Wood 
Bangor  Theological  Seminary,  President  Beach 
Colgate  University,  Acting  President  Crawshaw 
University  of  Virginia,  President  Alderman 
Indiana  University,  Professor  J.  P.  Porter 
Amherst  College,  President  Harris 
Trinity  College,  Professor  R.  B.  Riggs 
Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute,  President  RIcketts 

4 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

Western  Reserve  University,  President  Thwing  and 

Professor  H.  E.  Bourne 
Wesleyan  University,  Professor  W.  P.  Bradley 
Lafayette  College,  President  Warfield 
Haverford  College,  President  Sharpless 
Oberlin  College,  Professor  A.  S.  Root 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary,  Professor  W.  S.  Pratt 
Marietta  College,  Professor  E.  K.  Mitchell 
Mount  Holyoke  College,  President  WooUey 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  President  Brown 
Olivet  College,  President  Lancaster 
College  of  the  City  of  New  York,  President  Finley 
The  State  University  of  Iowa,  President  MacLean 
University  of  Wisconsin,  President  Van  Hise 
Tufts  College,  President  Hamilton 
Whitman  College,  President  Penrose 
Vassar  College,  President  Taylor 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Acting  Presi- 
dent Noyes 
Cornell  University,  President  Schurman 
The  University  of  Maine,  President  Fellows 
Lehigh  University,  Mr.  E.  H.  Williams,  Jr. 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  Dean  Mills 
University  of  Minnesota,  President  Northrop 
Union  College,  President  Alexander 
Smith  College,  President  Seelye 
Wellesley  College,  Professor  Elizabeth  K.  Kendall 
The  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Dean  Griffin 
Radcliffe  College,  Miss  Sarah  Yerxa 
Bryn  Mawr  College,  Professor  Florence  Bascom 

5 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

The  University  of  Chicago,  Dr.  Francis  W.  Parker 
Simmons  College,  Professor  F.  E.  Farley 
Clark  College,  Dean  Bentley 

DELEGATES    FROM    ACADEMIES    AND    SCHOOLS 

The  Rev.  Huber  G.  Buehler,  The  Hotchkiss  School 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  Ferguson,  St.  Paul's  School 
Mr.  Arthur  I.  Fiske,  The  Boston  Latin  School 
Dr.  Joseph  H.  Sawyer,  Williston  Seminary 
Mr.  Alfred  E.  Stearns,  Phillips  Academy 
The  Rev.  Dr.  William  G.  Thayer,  St.  Mark's  School 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Edward  D.  Tibbits,  The  Hoosac  School 
Dr.  Henry  P.  Warren,  The  Albany  Academy 

The  occasion  was  also  honored  by  the  presence 
of  the  following  guests  ; 

His  Excellency,  Curtis  Guild,  Jr.,  Governor  of  the  Com- 
monwealth 
The  Honorable  James  Bryce,  The  British  Ambassador 
Dr.  Franklin  Carter,  Ex- President  of  Williams  College 
Professor  F.  G.  Allinson,  Brown  University 
Mr.  Horace  E.  Andrews,  West  Mentor,  Ohio 
Dr.  John  Bascom,  Williamstown 
Mr.  George  P.  Black,  West  Mentor,  Ohio 
Dr.  John  Crosby  Brown,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
The  Rev.  William  A.  Brown,  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary 
Professor  H.  C.  Butler,  Princeton  University 
Mr.  J.  H.  Coit,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Mr.  H.  B.  Corner,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
The  Rev.  James  P.  Conover,  St.  Paul's  School 

6 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

Mr.  J.  D.  Cox,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
The  Honorable  W.  Murray  Crane,  Senator  from  Mas- 
sachusetts 
Mr.  Zenas  Crane,  Dalton 
The  Rev.  W.  V.  W.  Davis,  Pittsfield 
Head-master  Wilson  Farrand,  Newark  Academy 
Professor  G.  D.  Kellogg,  Princeton  University 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Arthur  Lawrence,  Stockbridge 
Professor  William  Libbey,  Princeton  University 
Professor  R.  M.  McElroy,  Princeton  University 
Mr.  Amos  B.  McNairy,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
Mr.  Charles  MacVeagh,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Professor  Allan  Marquand,  Princeton  University 
Professor  C.  H.  Moore,  Harvard  University 
Mr.  Junius  S.  Morgan,  Princeton,  N.  J. 
Mr.  Calvary  Morris,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
Dr.  James  G.  Mumford,  Boston 
John  Nicholson,  High  Sheriff  of  Berkshire  County 
Mr.  Charles  L.  Pack,  Lakewood,  N.  J. 
Lieutenant  H.  B.  Perkins,  of  the  Governor's  Staff 
Mr.  F.  H.  Presby,  New  York,  N.  Y. 
Colonel  F.  S.  Richardson,  North  Adams 
Senator  C.  Q.  Richmond,  North  Adams 
Captain  F.  R.  Robinson,  of  the  Governor's  Staff 
Mr.  Max  J.  Rudolph,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
Mr.  A.  D.  Russell,  Princeton,  N.  J. 
Major  Philip  S.  Sears,  of  the  Governor's  Staff 
President  G.  B.  Stewart,  Auburn  Theological  Seminary 
Major  Ira  Vaughn,  of  the  Governor's  Staff 
Bishop  Vinton,  Springfield 

Brigadier-General  J.  G.  White,  of  the  Governor's  Staff 

7 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

At  half-past  nine  o'clock — the  weather  was  fine 
and  the  town  never  more  beautiful  —  the  first  di- 
vision of  the  procession,  composed  of  students  — 
mostly  upper-class  men —  in  caps  and  gowns,  pre- 
ceded by  the  Second  Regiment  Band  of  Springfield, 
the  High  Sheriff  of  Berkshire  County,  and  Dean 
Ferry,  the  Marshal-in-Chief,  moved  from  the  Li- 
brary campus  to  Hopkins  Hall,  where  the  Faculty, 
in  full  academic  dress,  joined  it.  From  this  point 
the  route  lay  across  Main  Street,  past  Morgan  Hall 
to  Jesup  Hall.  A  large  number  of  the  Alumni,  ar- 
ranged in  the  order  of  their  classes,  fell  into  line  at 
this  point,  and  the  procession  then  marched  along 
the  walk  in  front  of  the  Scientific  Laboratories  and 
between  West  College  and  the  new  Clark  Hall  to 
the  President's  house.  There  were  gathered  the 
Trustees,  the  candidates  for  honorary  degrees,  and 
distinguished  guests.  Here  theyjoined  the  proces- 
sion in  the  following  order:  the  Rev.  Dr.  Adams, 
the  acting  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and 
Governor  Guild,  the  Governor's  Staff  in  full  uni- 
form. President-elect  Garfield  and  Ambassador 
Bryce,  the  Trustees  and  the  candidates  for  honor- 
ary degrees.  The  procession  then  proceeded  to  the 
Thompson  Memorial  Chapel,  where  the  delegates 
and  guests  were  already  seated  in  academic  order, 
and  where  morning  prayers  were  held,  at  which  the 

8 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

Rev.  Dr.  Dewey  of  Minneapolis,  Minnesota,  and 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Merriman  of  Worcester,  both  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  officiated.  At  this  service  the 
order  of  exercises  was  as  follows :  Processional 
Hymn,  ^<  How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the 
Lord  "  ;  Invocation  ;  Responsive  reading  of  the 
Sixty-seventh  Psalm ;  Scripture  lesson ;  Hymn, 
*<  Veni  Creator  Spiritus,"  sung  by  the  choir; 
Prayer ;  Hymn,  «  Let  children  hear  the  mighty 
deeds,"  sung  by  the  congregation  ;  and  Benedic- 
tion. The  music  for  the  last  two  hymns  was  com- 
posed by  Mr.  Sumner  Salter,  the  organist  of  the 
College. 

From  the  Chapel  the  procession  marched  be- 
tween two  lines  of  students,  extending  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  route,  to  the  Congre- 
gational Church,  where  the  exercises  of  induction 
took  place.  The  procession  observed  in  forma- 
tion the  following  order  :  the  Undergraduates,  the 
Trustees  and  the  candidates  for  honorary  degrees, 
the  Faculty,  the  delegates,  the  guests,  the  Alumni. 
At  the  church  the  Trustees,  the  speaker  in  behalf 
of  the  delegates,  the  candidates  for  honorary  de- 
grees, and  the  orator  who  presented  the  candidates 
were  arranged  in  a  semicircle  on  the  platform, 
—  the  chair  for  President-elect  Garfield  occupy- 
ing the  centre  of  it,  with  Governor  Guild  on  the 

9 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

right  and  Ambassador  Bryce  on  the  left.  In  the  gal- 
lery back  of  the  platform  the  Faculty  were  seated. 
The  delegates  and  guests  were  assigned  places 
in  front  of  the  platform.  Behind  them  came  the 
undergraduates,  while  the  Alumni  filled  the  side 
sections  of  the  church,  and  the  holders  of  tickets 
occupied  the  galleries. 

The  church  had  no  decorations  except  two  Amer- 
ican flags.  Theseflags  belong  to  the  Class  of  1 856, 
of  which  President  James  A.  Garfield,  the  father 
of  the  President-elect,  was  a  member,  and  were 
hung  upon  the  rail  of  the  choir-gallery  behind  the 
platform.  One  of  them  was  the  class  flag.  The 
other  is  associated  with  a  meeting  in  the  autumn 
of  1855  of  Amherst  and  Williams  students,  mem- 
bers of  the  Class  of  1 856  in  the  two  colleges,  "  on 
the  occasion  of  naming  a  high  ridge,  in  the  town 
of  Charlemont,  Mount  Pocumtuck."  The  elder 
Garfield  is  said  to  have  led  his  class  up  the  moun- 
tain and  to  have  carried  this  flag.  A  poem,  "Under 
the  Flag,"  suggested  by  the  occasion,  was  read  at 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  class  in  1906. 

The  ceremonies  in  the  church  proceeded  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  following 


10 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 

INVOCATION 

Ex-President  Franklin  Carter,  ll.  d. 

THE  INDUCTION 

'ithe  Reverend  William  Wisner  Adams,  d.  d. 
Chairman  of  the  Trustees 

THE  ACCEPTANCE 

The  President  of  the  College 

CONGRATULATORY  ADDRESSES 

In  behalf  of  the  Honorable  Delegates 

President  Woodrow  Wilson,  ll.  d.. 

Of  Princeton  University 

In  behalf  of  the  Alumni 

The  Reverend  John  Sheridan  Zelie,  d.  d.. 

Of  the  Class  0/1887 

In  behalf  of  the  Faculty 
Professor  John  Haskell  Hewitt,  ll.d. 

In  behalf  of  the  Undergraduates 
Ernest  Hosmer  Wood,  of  the  Class  of  igog 

THE  PRESIDENT'S  ADDRESS 

11 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

HYMN 

Ein'  Feste  Burg 

A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God, 
A  bulwark  never  failing  ; 

Our  helper  He,  amid  the  flood 
Of  mortal  ills  prevailing. 

For  still  our  ancient  foe 

Doth  seek  to  work  his  woe ; 

His  craft  and  power  are  great, 

And  armed  with  cruel  hate, 
On  earth  is  not  his  equal. 

Did  we  in  our  own  strength  confide. 
Our  striving  would  be  losing; 

Were  not  the  right  man  on  our  side. 
The  man  of  God's  own  choosing. 

Dost  ask  who  that  may  be } 

Christ  Jesus,  it  is  he  ; 

Lord  Sabaoth  is  his  name. 

From  age  to  age  the  same. 
And  he  must  win  the  battle. 


12 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 
THE  CONFERRING  OF  DEGREES 

Presentations 
Professor  RICHARD  AUSTIN  RICE,  m.a. 

Candidates  for  Honorary  Degrees 

Doctor  of  Letters 
HENRY  PITT  WARREN 

Head-master  of  the  Albany  Academy  (1813) 

ARTHUR  IRVING  FISKE 

Head-master  of  the  Boston  Latin  School  (1635) 

Doctor  of  Divinity 
FRANCIS  BROWN 

President  of  Union  T'heological  Seminary  (1836) 

Doctor  of  Laws 
JACOB  GOULD  SCHURMAN 

President  of  Cornell  University  (1865) 

CHARLES  RICHARD  VAN  HISE 

President  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  (1848) 

GEORGE  HARRIS 

President  of  Amherst  College  (1821) 
13 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

EDWIN  ANDERSON  ALDERMAN 

President  of  the  University  of  Virginia  (1819) 

NICHOLAS  MURRAY  BUTLER 

President  of  Columbia  University  (1754) 

WOODROW  WILSON 

President  of  Princeton  University  (1746) 

ARTHUR  TWINING  HADLEY 

President  of  Tale  University  (1701) 

ABBOTT  LAWRENCE  LOWELL 

Professor  in  Harvard  University  (1636) 

JAMES  BRYCE 

'The  British  Ambassador 

CURTIS  GUILD,  Jr. 

Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts 

Benediction 

The  Reverend  William  Wisner  Adams,  d.  d. 
Organ  Postlude 


14 


THE  EXERCISES 

The  exercises  began  with  an  invocation  by  ex- 
President  Frankhn  Carter,  LL.  D. : 

Almighty  and  ever-living  God,  in  whom  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  as  we  gather 
here  this  morning  we  seek  thy  presence,  thy  bless- 
ing, and  thy  help.  We  praise  thee  for  the  revela- 
tion of  thyself  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  by  whom 
we  have  access  to  thee.  We  praise  thee  for  the  in- 
fluence of  his  life  and  death,  for  the  uplifting  power 
of  his  teaching  and  example.  And  now,  our  Father, 
we  beseech  thee  to  give  us  a  clear  vision  of  thy 
great  goodness  to  us  and  to  our  fathers,  and  help 
us  to  feel  a  deep  responsibility  for  our  precious  in- 
heritance and  for  our  abundant  opportunities.  Help 
us  to  realize  that  we  are  dependent  on  thee  for  the 
performance  of  every  good  work  and  for  every 
noble  purpose,  and  we  pray  thee  that  that  wisdom 
which  is  from  above  may  animate  every  utterance 
and  find  a  welcome  entrance  into  every  heart.  We 
pray  that  the  issue  of  this  service  may  be  for  the 
enlarging  of  human  minds,  for  the  ennobling  of 
human  thought,  and  for  the  larger  acceptance  of  a 
truly  Christian  view  of  the  human  life.  We  pray 
thee  that  all  the  teaching  in  this  college  and  all  its 

15 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

ongoing  may  be  characterized  by  a  grateful  and 
reverent  appreciation  of  the  hfe  and  teaching  of 
our  Divine  Master  and  by  ardent  loyalty  to  his 
leadership.  Grant  unto  us,  we  beseech  thee,  that 
we  may  all  follow  him.  Unite  our  hearts  in  devo- 
tion to  the  great  purpose  of  his  coming,  the  re- 
demption of  men  from  sin  and  misery,  and  make 
this  college  a  humble  instrument  in  thy  hands  for 
hastening  the  day  when  he  shall  see  of  the  travail 
of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied.  We  ask  all  these  mercies 
in  his  name ;  and  as  he  taught  us,  we  would  say : 
"Our  Father  who  art  in  heaven,  hallowed  be 
thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come.  Thy  will  be  done, 
on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven.  Give  us  this  day  our 
daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  trespasses  as  we 
forgive  those  who  trespass  against  us.  And  lead 
us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil. 
For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the 
glory,  for  ever  and  ever.  Amen." 


THE  INDUCTION 

by  the  Rev.  William  Wisner  Adams,  D.D.,  Chair- 
man of  the  Trustees : 

Williams  College  comes  to-day  to  a  most  im- 
portant transition  in  its  history.  On  the  twenty- 

16 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

fourth  day  of  June,  1907,  Dr.  Henry  Hopkins  re- 
signed his  office  of  President  of  the  College,  the 
resignation  to  take  effect  at  the  close  of  the  Com- 
mencement exercises  of  the  present  year.  On  the 
following  day,  June  25, 1907,  the  Trustees  elected 
Harry  Augustus  Garfield,  then  Professor  of  Pol- 
itics in  Princeton  University,  to  be  the  successor  of 
Dr.  Hopkins  and  the  eighth  President  of  WiUiams 
College.  There  was  but  one  name  that  came  before 
the  Board  of  Trustees.  The  election  was  absolutely 
unanimous,  not  in  the  sense  that  no  one  voted 
against  him,  but  that  every  one  voted  for  him,  and 
he  was  elected  upon  the  first  ballot.  The  trustees 
voted  a  little  later  that  the  services  of  induction 
of  the  President-elect  should  take  place  on  the  sev- 
enth day  of  October,  1908,  and  to  that  function 
we  are  now  come. 

President  Garfield  arose  and  was  received  wdth 
prolonged  applause.  The  chairman  continued,  — 

I,  therefore,  acting  as  the  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  in  the  name  of  the  board  and 
by  its  authority,  do  now  declare  you,  Harry  Au- 
gustus Garfield,  Doctor  of  Laws,  to  be  the  duly 
elected  President  of  Williams  College.  In  testi- 
mony whereof,  vesting  you  with  all  the  preroga- 
tives, powers,  responsibilities  and  privileges  of  that 
office,  I  hand  you  this  charter  of  the  College,  given 

17 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

by  the  General  Court  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts  on  the  twenty-second  day  of  June, 
1793. 

According  to  the  terms  of  the  charter,  "the 
purpose  of  the  College  shall  be  the  instruction  of 
youth  in  such  manner  as  shall  most  effectually  pro- 
mote virtue  and  piety,  the  learning  of  languages 
and  of  the  liberal  arts  and  sciences."  The  moral 
and  spiritual  requisites  of  a  true  manhood  are 
always  the  same.  They  can  be  seen  more  clearly 
and  complied  with  more  completely  as  the  genera- 
tions pass  away.  Since  the  giving  of  the  charter 
the  number  of  languages  needing  to  be  studied  is 
larger  than  of  old,  as  you  know ;  the  number  of 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  much  larger;  the  devel- 
opment of  knowledge  and  power  attained  by  means 
of  them  incomparably  greater.  Correspondingly 
greater,  therefore,  should  be  the  thoroughness  of 
mental  training,  the  well-poised  personality,  the 
large  and  firm  grasp  of  thought,  and  the  high  and 
firmly-held  ideals  and  aims.  You  know  the  high 
ideals  of  the  best  young  men  in  college,  their  noble 
aspirations,  the  earnest  devotion  of  their  consecra- 
tion to  their  work,  the  charm  of  their  enthusiasm, 
the  vigor  of  their  young  manhood  and  the  conta- 
gion of  every  fine  and  strong  personality, —  con- 
tagion peculiarly  active  in  college  life.  You  know, 

18 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

also,  the  evil  liabilities  which  come  from  the  mate- 
rialism and  greed  of  our  time,  the  evil  liabilities  of 
the  undiscerning  to  think  much  more  highly  of 
brawn  than  of  brains,  and  to  seek  more  eagerly 
social  diversions  than  the  intellectual  conquest  of 
the  -world,  the  attainment  of  individual  character 
and  self-control,  and  of  that  daily  power  necessary 
to  cope  with  the  chaos  of  our  time  when  everything 
is  in  flux,  in  order,  as  we  believe,  that  there  may 
come  radical  reformations  and  magnificent  trans- 
formations for  the  grander  life  of  man  in  the  ages 
to  come.  We  have  confidence  in  you,  sir,  that  you 
will  be  able  to  meet  and  be  equal  to  the  responsi- 
bilities of  your  high  office  in  guarding  against  those 
evil  liabilities  and  in  ministering  to  these  high 
needs.  You  have  had  experience  in  academic  life 
and  instruction.  You  have  had  experience  in  the 
administration  of  affairs  in  which  you  won  the  con- 
fidence of  men  in  days  gone  by. 

Some  of  us  here  gathered  to-day  remember 
your  father  in  his  college  days,  his  young  man- 
hood, his  noble  temper  and  strength,  and  we  re- 
member what  he  said  of  the  worth  of  college  train- 
ing to  mankind  and  of  the  worth  of  this  College  to 
him.  We  remember  that  when  he  came  to  the 
high  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  he 
won  the  confidence  and  love  of  the  nation,  and  the 

19 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

whole  world  mourned  when  by  the  hand  of  vio- 
lence he  was  taken  away  from  the  discharge  of  his 
duty.  We  believe,  sir,  that  you  will  prove  your- 
self not  unworthy  of  such  a  father,  —  nay,  more 
than  that,  that  your  work  will  show  that  you  are 
a  true  and  loyal  son  of  the  Most  High,  discharging 
the  duties  which  God  has  given  you  as  unto  him 
and  in  the  service  of  his  kingdom. 

You  will  have  with  you  a  select  body  of  men, 
the  Faculty  of  this  College,  who  will  work  with 
you  in  the  far-reaching  service  of  education  and 
training,  and  who  naturally,  and  very  properly, 
will,  from  time  to  time,  seek  your  aid  in  the  dis- 
charge of  their  laborious  duties.  It  will  be  your 
privilege,  also,  from  time  to  time,  to  make  selec- 
tion of  others,  the  best  that  can  be  found,  whom 
you  will  recommend  for  appointment  in  this  Col- 
lege. You  will  have  behind  you  and  with  you  a 
body  of  trustees,  chosen  from  various  stations  and 
relations  of  life,  men  of  culture  and  of  power,  men 
representing  many  interests  in  life,  men  of  con- 
spicuous devotion  to  the  welfare  of  this  College. 
You  may  also  turn  to  them  with  confidence  in 
their  sympathy  and  cooperation.  They  will  always 
be  most  ready  to  strengthen  your  hands  and  to 
furnish  you  with  needed  facilities  for  your  work. 

I  put  into  your  hands,  also,  these  keys,  symbol 

20 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

of  the  property  committed  to  your  charge  and  use 
in  giving  the  best  and  most  symmetrical  education 
practicable  in  our  time.  Some  of  the  funds  repre- 
sented by  those  keys  were  given  in  noblest  self-sac- 
rifice, with  the  prayers  of  the  donors  that  their  gifts 
might  be  greatly  serviceable  in  the  promotion  of 
the  highest  manhood  for  centuries  to  come.  All 
of  the  gifts  were  made  because  of  the  confidence 
of  the  donors  in  the  purposes  and  aims  of  this  Col- 
lege, because  of  their  admiration  for  its  history, 
their  love  of  its  traditions,  their  high  hopes  for  its 
future  in  doing  the  work  that  colleges  must  always 
do  for  the  promotion  of  the  continual  progress 
of  mankind.  Preserve  the  property  sacredly;  use 
it  wisely,  prudently,  freely,  for  the  purposes  for 
which  it  was  given. 

And  may  Almighty  God,  our  Father  in  hea- 
ven, give  unto  you  wisdom  and  grace  to  show 
yourself  a  man,  according  to  his  own  heart,  in  the 
position  where  he  has  placed  you.  May  he  give 
you  insight  and  courage,  tact  and  efficiency,  and 
the  spirit  of  a  continual  faithfulness,  according  to 
the  love  which  he  has  for  you,  in  doing  the  duties 
which  he  has  given  you  to  do  and  according  to  the 
love  which  he  has  for  the  multitudes  of  young  men 
that  shall  come  under  your  charge,  made  in  his  like- 
ness every  one  of  them,  made  to  work  with  him  in 

21 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

his  everlasting  kingdom  and  to  share  with  him  in 
his  eternal  glory. 

President  Garfield  responded  as  follows :  — 
Dr.  Adams  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Williams  College :  I  accept  the  trust 
you  have  committed  to  me;  and,  in  all  humility, 
with  a  keen  sense  of  the  great  responsibility  in- 
volved, but  with  reliance  upon  Divine  favor,  if 
what  is  done  is  well-pleasing  in  the  sight  of  God, 
I  assure  you  of  my  purpose  to  devote  my  best 
powers  to  the  service  of  this  College,  —  to  the 
conservation  of  its  property,  the  welfare  of  all 
connected  with  its  life,  and  the  preservation  of  its 
high  ideals. 

Address  of  President  Woodrow  Wilson,  LL.  D., 
President  of  Princeton  University,  in  behalf  of 
the  Honorable  Delegates. 

Mr.  President :  I  esteem  it  a  real  privilege  that 
I  was  invited  to  stand  here  and  bid  you  welcome 
to  that  singular  fraternity  to  which  college  presi- 
dents belong.  I  think  that  you  would  deem  it,  and 
all  who  know  the  circumstances  would  deem  it,  an 
affectation  on  my  part  if  I  did  not  express,  first 
of  all,  the  personal  feeling  which  is  uppermost  in 
my  heart  at  this  moment.  I  know,  of  course,  that 
one  element  in  choosing  me  to  perform  this  ser- 

22 


INDUCTION   OF  PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

vice  was  the  delightful  personal  relationship  which 
had  existed  between  you  and  us  at  Princeton; 
otherwise  there  are  men  representing  older  insti- 
tutions and  of  longer  experience  who  would  have 
been  entitled  to  stand  in  my  place. 

Perhaps  a  public  occasion  is  not  ordinarily  a 
suitable  occasion  for  expressing  personal  friend- 
ship and  personal  confidence ;  but  perhaps,  also,  it 
will  be  an  act  of  authentication  of  you  to  the  gen- 
tlemen who  have  so  trusted  you  with  this  high 
office  to  say  what  you  have  been  at  Princeton.  I 
know  that  you  have  been  honored  by  us  on  another 
occasion,  and  that  you  have  won  many  friends  by 
your  experience  at  Princeton ;  but  I  want  to  say 
that  Princeton  is  rendered  poor  by  your  leaving, 
that  Princeton  has  profited  by  your  counsels,  by 
your  signal  equipoise  of  character,  and  by  the 
marked  proofs  of  your  deep-seated  kindliness  and 
wholesomeness  of  nature,  and  that  any  institution 
is  singularly  fortunate  to  get  so  strong  a  leader 
and  so  wise  a  counsellor  as  yourself. 

I  think  that  the  choice  of  a  man  like  yourself, 
trained  not  merely  in  academic  circles,  but  trained 
also  in  the  broader  circle  of  business  and  the  world, 
has  a  singular  significance  at  the  present  time. 
For,  sir,  it  is  important  that  college  administration 
should  receive  more  than  a  touch  of  statesmanship. 

23 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

It  is  that  touch  which  you  may  be  expected  to 
give  to  the  administration  of  this  conspicuous  and 
distinguished  institution.  For  the  college  is  now 
bound,  in  times  of  confused  counsel,  to  supply  the 
country  not  merely  with  men,  in  the  ordinary  pop- 
ular sense  of  that  word,  not  merely  with  strong 
individualities,  not  merely  with  wholesome  na- 
tures, —  natures  rendered  wholesome  by  the  puri- 
fying influences  of  counsel,  —  but  also  with  men 
who  can  think,  men  who  can  interpret,  men  who 
can  perceive,  men  who  have  something  more  than 
skill  and  aptitude  and  knowledge,  men  who  look 
beneath  the  surface  of  affairs  and  know  the  gene- 
sis of  affairs  and  can  forecast  —  as  much  as  it  is 
given  to  men  to  forecast  —  the  future  of  affairs, 
men  who  are  ready  to  serve  the  country  with 
something  more  than  skill  and  knowledge,  men 
who  have  a  great  surplus  of  energy  and  of  under- 
standing to  spend  in  the  service  of  the  country, 
men  whose  attention  is  not  wholly  centred  upon 
making  their  own  living,  but  is  spent  also  upon  the 
very  exigent  matter  of  lifting  all  the  counsels  of 
the  country  to  a  higher  plane  and  place  and  oppor- 
tunity of  vision. 

And  so  the  function  of  the  college  is  changing 
with  the  character  and  necessities  of  the  times.  I 
believe  that  we  have  centred  our  thoughts  too 

24 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD  " 

much  upon  matters  of  curriculum ;  that  we  have 
centred  our  thoughts  too  much  upon  serving  the 
individual  student  who  came  to  us  and  too  little 
upon  serving  the  country  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  that  individual  student ;  and  that  it  is  just 
as  important  to  concentrate  our  attention  upon  the 
spirit  of  the  college  in  respect  to  learning  and  the 
service  of  the  country,  and  upon  the  organization 
of  the  life  of  the  college,  as  it  is  to  centre  it  upon 
the  curriculum  itself.  The  curriculum  is  a  means 
of  enabling  the  college  faculty  to  promote  a  spirit 
and  to  perfect  an  organization  which  shall  carry 
the  students  forward  to  better  things ;  and  there- 
fore it  is  as  important  to  draw  the  college  together 
in  its  several  parts  and  unite  them  in  a  common 
undertaking  as  it  is  to  give  instruction  in  the  class- 
room and  see  to  it  that  the  students  understand 
the  difference  between  truth  and  error;  because 
if  the  student  does  not  draw  near  to  the  professor 
because  of  deference  to  him,  there  is  coming  a 
time  when  the  professor  will  not  draw  near  to  the 
student  because  of  deference  to  him. 

The  student's  attention  is  so  much  absorbed  by 
the  affairs  of  what  he  calls  his  life  that  the  teacher 
gets  only  the  residuum  and  balance  of  his  intel- 
lect. There  is  coming  a  time  when  we  must  draw 
these  elements  together,  and,  subordinating  nei- 

25 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

ther,  unite  them  both  upon  an  equahty,  so  that  the 
hfe  and  the  learning  and  the  attention  will  all  be 
indistinguishable,  and  there  will  be  no  contest,  but 
our  very  pleasures  shall  give  accent  and  salt  and 
flavor  to  our  intellectual  ambitions.  For  the  object 
of  the  university  is  singly  and  entirely  intellectual. 
The  object  of  sport,  the  object  of  social  pleasure, 
is  relief  from  the  strain  of  work ;  but  pleasure  is 
not  pleasure,  and  any  diversion  is  professional,  if  it 
be  not  simply  a  relief  from  the  main  object  of  col- 
lege ambition. 

It  is  this  conception  which,  it  seems  to  me,  you, 
coming  from  a  varied  experience,  having  touched 
the  world  at  many  points  and  known  men  of  many 
kinds, — it  is  this  that  you  will  seek,  and  this  which 
you,  perhaps  better  than  any  one  else,  will  be  in- 
strumental in  accomplishing.  I  congratulate  you 
upon  the  opportunity,  and  for  my  coUeagues^of  all 
the  colleges  of  the  country  I  congratulate  Wilhams 
College  upon  her  choice  of  a  man. 

Address  of  Rev.  John  Sheridan  Zelie,  D.D.,  of 
the  Class  of  1887,  in  behalf  of  the  Alumni. 

President  Garfield,  one  of  your  fellow  college 
presidents  who  sits  beside  you  to-day,  who  has  said 
innumerable  good  things  about  life  and  work,  said 
a  few  years  ago  that  "  the  fortunate  man  is  the 

26 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

man  who  has  the  hard  job."  I  recall  that  saying, 
not  to  apply  it  to  your  position,  but  to  apply  it  to 
my  own  on  the  day  when  I  am  asked  to  express 
the  good-will  of  your  thousands  of  fellow- Alumni 
to  you,  and  to  do  it  in  three  minutes.  And  yet  we 
want  you  to  know  that  every  man  of  us  stands 
ready,  if  called  upon,  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith 
that  is  in  him  that  the  act  of  this  hour  means  the 
assured  welfare  of  this  College,  which  is  bound 
up  with  nearly  everything  that  we  hold  highest  in 
the  world. 

Your  welcome  is  a  welcome  with  reasons.  It 
is  pardonable  and  natural  if  many  of  those  who 
sit  before  you  to-day  find  their  welcome  colored 
largely  by  the  remembrance  that  you  belonged  to 
that  class  in  this  College  of  which  it  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  it  now  seems  to  have  been  able  to  sup- 
ply nearly  everything  that  a  commonwealth  or 
a  church  or  a  college  could  demand.  That  class  of 
yours  was  the  first-fruits  of  an  administration  which 
began  nearly  thirty  years  ago,  and  neither  you  nor 
we  might  ask  anything  more  than  that  this  begin- 
ning of  new  things  to-day,  under  your  own  direc- 
tion, should  inspire  these  men  that  enter  with  you 
in  the  same  way  that  that  new  start  in  the  college 
life  inspired  yours  so  long  ago. 

For  every  stage  in  your  life  there  are  some 

27 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

here  to  render  a  welcome  to  you  as  knowing  that 
stage.  Many  of  us  would  be  content  to  see  you 
translated  into  this  office  if  it  had  been  straight 
from  that  citizenship  in  which  we  were  fellow-citi- 
zens with  you,  —  that  steadfast  citizenship  of  yours 
which  seemed  to  be  yours  as  by  nature.  Others 
rejoice  in  your  coming  because  you  come  freshly 
from  teaching  the  principles  of  that  citizenship  and 
of  great  public  interests  to  students  who  gave  you 
their  enthusiastic  attention.  The  knowledge  of  it 
has  made  the  college  heart  glad,  as  you  come  to  it 
to-day,  and  prepared  a  like  reception  for  you  in 
the  college  body  here. 

We  welcome  you  back  as  the  same  Wilhams 
man  that  we  have  always  trusted  in  every  stage  of 
your  life,  but  we  welcome  you  as  something  more, 
recognizing  our  debt  to  three  universities  whose 
touch  has  passed  upon  you,  in  two  of  which  you 
were  a  teacher.  And  as  it  was  a  source  of  just 
pride  to  us  to  know  that  you  were  carrying  the 
gifts  of  Williams  to  those  two  places,  so  it  is  our 
great  happiness  to-day  to  know  that  the  loan  is 
repaid  with  interest,  and  that  we  are  to  have  the 
last  and  the  best  of  you  here  at  home. 

Not  the  least  of  our  joy  to-day  is  the  pleasant 
tang  of  predestination  that  there  is  in  the  air.  Some 
of  us  have  to  reproach  ourselves  year  after  year  for 

28 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

our  remissness  in  dealing  with  that  doctrine.  It  is 
not  because  we  do  not  believe  in  it;  we  are  always 
intending  to  say  something  about  it;  but  when  such 
a  pronounced  instance  of  it  occurs  as  we  recognize 
in  your  case  to-day,  it  is  a  temptation  to  dwell  upon 
the  doctrine  longer  than  you  would  have  patience 
for  it.  I  content  myself  with  expressing  for  your 
fellow- Alumni  our  gratitude  to  Princeton  for  doing 
its  immemorial  work  once  more  and  bringing  the 
lines  of  that  predestination  out  so  that  they  are 
unmistakable. 

And  yet  we  want  you  to  feel  that  this  is  not  a 
mere  gala  day  in  the  life  of  this  College  and  that 
your  welcome  is  not  chiefly  a  sentimental  wel- 
come. The  earnestness  of  our  good- will  toward  you 
springs  largely  from  the  deepening  appreciation 
that  we  all  have  of  what  the  office  you  hold  means 
in  the  land.  To  a  degree  never  known  before,  the 
names  of  those  who  hold  a  position  similar  to  yours 
are  become  household  words.  Your  judgments  and 
words  and  doings  are  awaited  with  an  expectancy 
and  received  with  a  seriousness  and  willingness 
which  you  may  little  appreciate,  among  thousands 
and  thousands  of  men  who  have  the  college  desire 
but  do  not  have  the  college  privilege.  We  welcome 
you  into  such  a  position  as  this  because,  in  doing 
so,  we  welcome  you  not  merely  as  our  own,  but  as 

29 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

one  more  leader  given  to  filling  the  world's  ever- 
increasing  hunger  and  need  of  leadership.  We 
welcome  you  into  that  position  because  we  believe 
that  you,  in  all  your  training  and  experience,  have 
become  able  to  say  almost  instinctively  that  great 
word  which  our  Lord  put  in  the  very  forefront  of 
his  prayer,  as  the  first  word  that  men  ought  always 
to  remember  to  say, — the  word  "Our."  And  we 
want  you  to  realize  how  many  more  than  this  stu- 
dent body  will  expect  to  have  a  share  in  your  life. 
We  want  you  to  speak  to  them.  We  do  not  expect 
you  to  do  it  immediately.  We  do  not  expect  you 
to  speak  when  you  have  nothing  to  say.  We  are 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  academic  affairs  to 
know  that  many,  many  times  in  the  life  of  a  col- 
lege president  he  is  too  amazed  to  say  anything. 
But  as  your  judgments  form,  as  you  find  the  sure 
inspirations  of  your  place,  we  want  to  hear  from 
you ;  we  want  a  share  in  the  words  that  come  from 
your  lips  and  the  influences  that  go  from  your  life 
to  these  students  round  about  you. 

It  is  told  of  one  of  the  Prime  Ministers  of  Eng- 
land that  his  first  ambition  was  that  England  might 
prosper  under  his  administration,  and  his  second 
ambition  was  that  England  might  prosper.  Because 
we  believe  that  it  is  your  first  and  consuming  desire 
that  Williams  shall  prosper,  it  is  the  absolute  con- 

30 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

fidence  and  desire  of  your  fellow-Alumni  that 
Williams  shall  prosper  under  you. 

Address  of  Professor  John  Haskell  Hewitt, 
LL.  D.,  in  behalf  of  the  Faculty. 

President  Garfield :  By  the  courtesy  of  my  col- 
leagues of  the  Faculty  there  has  been  intrusted 
to  me  the  pleasing  office  of  extending  to  you,  sir, 
their  hearty  congratulations  on  this  auspicious  oc- 
casion, and  of  giving  you  a  most  cordial  welcome. 
Happily  the  Trustees  have  not  departed  from  the 
custom  that  has  prevailed  here  for  three  quarters 
of  a  century  and  have  chosen  a  president  from 
among  the  Alumni.  It  is  to  me  the  source  of  no 
small  personal  pleasure  that,  in  this  period  of  my 
service  in  the  College,  I  can  welcome  to  the  presi- 
dency one  who  was  a  member  of  the  first  class 
taught  here  by  me  twenty-six  years  ago.  The  son 
of  our  most  distinguished  Alumnus,  imbibing  in 
the  home  the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of  the  elder 
Hopkins  and  the  traditions  of  the  College ;  pursu- 
ing your  college  course  in  the  very  first  years  of 
an  administration  that  was  in  all  respects  brilliant 
and  was  especially  marked  for  a  high  standard  of 
scholarship;  supplementing  your  academic  train- 
ing by  professional  studies  pursued  in  this  country 
and  abroad ;  amid  the  exacting  duties  of  the  law 

31 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

becoming  the  ardent  apostle  of  civic  righteousness 
in  a  large  city ;  and,  above  all,  the  successful  and 
popular  instructor  of  youth  in  a  venerable  univer- 
sity, you  come  to  the  varied  duties  of  your  new 
office  with  rare  equipment. 

You  return  to  your  Alma  Mater  after  a  score 
of  years  to  find  the  number  of  students  and  alumni 
nearly  doubled,  the  productive  funds  and  the  val- 
ues of  buildings  multiplied  sevenfold,  and  instead 
of  a  Faculty  of  sixteen,  a  Faculty  of  fifty-eight 
members,  who  hold  the  degrees  and  represent  the 
training  of  more  than  a  score  of  institutions.  This 
growth  brings  with  it  new  and  important  prob- 
lems and  weighty  responsibilities.  Worthily  to  rep- 
resent the  College  on  various  public  occasions ;  to 
attract  hither  deserving  youth;  rightly  to  adjust 
the  curriculum ;  to  preserve  the  traditions  of  the 
college  as  to  standard  of  scholarship  and  so  protect 
the  value  of  our  degree ;  to  awaken  and  keep  alive 
among  the  student  body  an  enthusiastic  love  of 
science  and  letters ;  —  in  short,  to  shape  the  pol- 
icy of  the  College  for  a  century  to  come,  —  these 
things  will  devolve  largely  upon  yourself.  Though 
you  assume  your  duties  at  an  important  crisis  in 
the  development  of  our  educational  institutions, 
you  will  probably  not  care  to  develop  this  College 
into  a  university,  and,  whether  or  not  all  accept 

32 


INDUCTION   OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

the  statement  of  a  recent  writer  that  it  is  the  func- 
tion of  the  small  college  to  train  boys  in  manli- 
ness and  the  humanities,  it  does  seem  all-impor- 
tant at  this  time  that  the  American  college  should 
train  youth  in  that  idealism  which  shall  hold  in 
check  the  furious  trend  toward  things  material.  It 
is  a  time  when  educators  might  well  pay  heed  to 
the  words  of  that  prince  of  idealists,  —  Plato.  "  An 
intelligent  man,"  says  he,  "will  naturally  choose 
those  studies  which  result  in  his  soul  getting  sober- 
ness, righteousness,  and  wisdom,  and  will  less  value 
others."  It  is  to  be  hoped,  sir,  that  under  your 
prudent  guidance,  while  holding  to  her  traditions 
in  placing  culture  above  knowledge  and  character 
above  culture,  Williams  College  will  help  meet  the 
important  needs  of  our  country  in  producing  a 
statesmanship,  a  literature,  and  a  scholarship  of  the 
first  rank. 

It  now  remains  to  me  to  assure  you  that,  in 
bearing  the  burdens  and  meeting  the  responsibili- 
ties of  your  office,  the  members  of  the  Faculty, 
unanimously  and  heartily  approving  of  the  choice 
of  the  Trustees,  pledge  to  you  a  most  willing  and 
hearty  cooperation. 

May  this  gift  of  the  presidency  offered  to  you,  sir, 
prove  to  be  heaven-sent,  and  so,  may  your  admin- 
istration be  long,  honorable,  and  of  good  success. 

33 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

Address  of  Ernest  Hosmer  Wood,  of  the  Class 
of  1909,  in  behalf  of  the  Undergraduates. 

Mr.  President :  Reunions  have  become  familiar 
to  those  of  the  students  who  have  been  here  long- 
est. To  meet  with  the  loyal  Alumni  who  flock  back 
at  Commencement  never  fails  to  arouse  our  enthu- 
siasm, and  each  year  we  look  forward  to  that  event 
with  the  greatest  anticipation.  But  it  is  a  greater 
inspiration  to  us,  this  gathering  of  eminent  states- 
men and  prominent  educators  from  all  parts  of 
the  country,  who  are  here  to  witness  the  induction 
into  office  of  the  President  of  Williams  College. 
It  is  an  inspiration  to  every  undergraduate,  this 
expression  of  good-will  toward  the  College  and 
all  that  it  stands  for. 

The  life  which  the  average  student  leads  tends 
to  make  him  narrow.  Our  college  world,  to  attain 
the  object  for  which  it  exists,  must  of  necessity 
be  removed  from  the  broader,  yet  distracting,  in- 
terests of  the  outside  world.  In  this  atmosphere 
of  isolation  and  retirement  the  undergraduate 
comes  to  feel  that  there  is  but  one  college,  —  his 
own, — to  which  all  others  are  subordinate.  It 
is  only  when  he  comes  in  contact  with  students 
of  other  institutions,  or  when  he  is  present  at  an 
occasion  like  this,  that  he  is  drawn  out  of  his 

34 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

narrow  shell  and  comes  to  feel  that,  instead  of 
belonging  to  merely  one  college,  he  is  in  reality 
a  member  of  the  great  intellectual  brotherhood 
of  America. 

The  gentleman  who  to-day  steps  into  the  presi- 
dency of  Williams  knows  this  College  from  both 
points  of  view.  He  has  been  here  as  a  student, 
and  he  has  in  the  recent  past  been  associated  with 
a  university  whose  ideals  are  of  the  most  pro- 
gressive sort.  He  understands  the  broad  signifi- 
cance of  a  college.  It  is  impossible  for  us  to 
prophesy  how  great  will  be  the  advancement  of 
this  institution  under  his  guidance. 

Those  of  us  who  have  been  members  of  the  pre- 
sent undergraduate  body  longest,  who  have  only 
one  year  of  college  life  remaining,  cannot  but 
feel  the  deepest  regret  that  the  members  of  the 
entering  class  can  never  know  the  influence  of  our 
late  president,  whose  geniality  and  whose  kindly 
and  cordial  friendship  for  young  men  are  among 
the  dearest  memories  of  our  college  course ;  and 
still,  from  the  bottom  of  our  hearts,  we  envy  them 
the  four  years  they  have  yet  to  spend  under  the 
leadership  of  a  president  whom  the  whole  College 
regards  as  the  creator  of  the  new  Williams  of  the 
future. 

We  students  are  young  men,  still  in  the  for- 

35 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

mative  period  of  life.  We  do  not  presume  to  lay 
claim  to  mature  judgment  in  all  matters.  We  are 
here  primarily  to  learn  how  best  to  go  through 
life  with  the  fewest  mistakes.  If  at  any  time  our 
actions  may  appear  to  be  based  on  anything  else 
than  tact  or  discretion,  it  is  for  us  to  be  judged  ac- 
cordingly, but  nothing  can  be  further  from  our 
wish  than  to  do  anything  which  would  injure  in 
any  way  the  best  interests  of  Williams  College. 
It  is  with  this  desire  to  do  our  utmost  to  contribute 
toward  the  general  progress  of  Williams  during 
the  short  time  we  are  here,  that  we,  as  undergrad- 
uates, pledge  to  you,  sir,  as  our  incoming  president, 
and  to  your  administration  the  most  loyal  support 
of  which  we  are  capable. 


PRESIDENT  GARFIELD'S  ADDRESS 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  make  response  to  what 
has  been  said  to  me  this  morning.  It  would  be 
impossible  for  me  to  convey  to  you  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  impression  it  has  made  upon  me  or 
of  the  feeling  of  humility  with  which,  as  I  stated  to 
the  trustees,  I  undertake  this  task.  I  shall  leave  it 
to  that  which  is  more  eloquent  than  words,  —  to 
deeds,  in  the  hope  that  in  the  administration  of  this 
office  the  deed  may  correspond,  in  some  degree  at 
least,  with  what  you  have  been  pleased  to  address 
to  me  here. 

The  theme  I  have  chosen  for  this  occasion  will 
be  found  in  the  answer  I  would  make  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  What  is  the  chief  end  of  the  American 
college?" 

Similar  questions  are  being  asked  concerning 
organizations  of  every  kind.  None  are  too  sacred 
or  too  long  established  to  escape,  and  none  should 
desire  to  be  excused.  Inquisitions  are  periodic. 
They  vary  in  form  and  character  with  the  times, 
but  all  grow  out  of  a  laudable  desire  to  be  rid  of 
the  worn-out  and  unfit.  They  are  periods  of  na- 
tional house-cleaning,  as  necessary,  though  quite 
as  disturbing,  as  their  domestic  prototype.    We 

37 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

have  been  passing  through  such  a  period  in  recent 
months.  Institutions  of  higher  education  having 
been  reached  in  the  process  of  upheaval,  there  has 
been  much  perturbation  of  spirit  among  educators 
and  alumni.  In  the  opinion  of  some,  the  time  has 
come  for  the  frank  abandonment  of  the  old  order  of 
things ;  we  are  living  in  a  larger  world,  on  a  more 
extensive  scale ;  what  was  suitable  to  our  academic 
needs  a  few  decades  ago  is  no  longer  so.  To  others, 
the  larger  world  is  sadly  in  need  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  qualities  imparted  under  the  old  order. 

Though  the  American  college  has  been  the 
subject  of  much  discussion  during  the  past  few 
years,  it  has  been  treated,  for  the  most  part,  in  its 
relation  to  secondary  schools  on  the  one  hand,  and 
to  professional  schools  on  the  other.  But  before 
we  undertake  to  say  what  its  relation  ought  to  be 
to  other  educational  institutions,  we  must  make 
sure  that  its  existence  in  any  form  is  warranted. 
This  depends  quite  as  much  upon  end  and  object 
as  upon  performance.  The  mere  fact  that  an  insti- 
tution continues  to  perform  some  service  is  no 
sufficient  reason  for  its  continuance.  The  service 
must  be  adequate ;  an  impossible  requirement  un- 
less it  be  actuated  by  an  object  that  is  both  definite 
and  necessary. 

The  charge  of  vagueness  of  aim  brought  against 

38 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

the  American  college  is,  in  part  at  least,  well 
founded,  and  to  this  fact  is  largely  due  the  weak- 
ening of  intellectual  stamina  observed  among  un- 
dergraduates. It  is  rare  that  men  are  found  idling 
in  the  professional  schools.  One  constantly  hears 
it  said  of  a  young  man  who  has  passed  through 
four  years  of  undergraduate  life,  with  ease  if 
not  with  dignity,  that  he  is  now  at  the  law  school 
working  hard,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  main  issue. 
Vagueness  of  aim  has  given  place  to  clear  purpose. 
But  that  which  is  general  is  not  necessarily  vague. 
To  train  the  whole  body  by  vigorous  and  regular 
exercise,  that  one  may  be  stronger  and  physically 
more  fit  for  the  pursuits  of  e very-day  life,  is  quite 
as  definite  as  to  develop  bodily  prowess  for  par- 
ticipation in  some  particular  sport. 

What  is  wanted  in  our  colleges  is  an  object 
that  can  appeal  to  every  student,  whatever  may 
be  the  future  life-work  of  each.  This  object  must 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  times,  without  sacri- 
ficing the  rich  heritage  of  the  past.  It  must  quicken 
and  inspire  men  to  new  and  higher  conceptions 
of  life,  without  rendering  them  less,  but  rather 
more,  efficient  members  of  society.  Such  an  ob- 
ject is  expressed  by  the  word  citizenship.  Amer- 
ica's greatest  need  is  that  the  men  and  women  of 
the  United  States  comprehend  all  that  citizenship 

39 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE 

imports,  and  live  up  to  its  obligations.  Hence,  I 
venture  to  assert  that  the  chief  end  of  the  Ameri- 
can college  is  to  train  citizens  for  citizenship. 

Many  alumni,  and  most  men  without  experi- 
ence of  academic  life,  think  of  college  as  a  place 
of  pleasant  comradeship ;  a  place  v^here  cultivated 
ease  and  boisterous  zeal  join  hands  for  a  season; 
a  charming  valley,  as  it  v^ere,  where  the  waters 
of  the  stream  of  life,  let  through  protecting  locks, 
flow  gently  between  banks  made  glad  by  a  thou- 
sand flowers,  through  groves  set  with  stately  and 
noble  trees ;  a  place  happily  removed  from  the 
dust  and  heat  of  the  weary  highway  over  which 
the  schoolboy  has  trudged;  a  place  from  which 
one  embarks  on  the  main  stream  of  life  after  a 
season  of  preparation,  which  consists  of  learning 
how  to  paddle  one's  own  canoe  without  responsi- 
bility for  consequences.  In  other  words,  college 
seems  to  them  a  place  of  privilege,  in  which  one 
experiences  much  that  is  pleasant  and  acquires 
something  that  is  profitable. 

Too  often  men  think  of  citizenship  in  the  same 
way.  It  is  regarded  as  a  status  of  which  one  may 
be  justly  proud,  but  is  prized  chiefly  for  the  per- 
sonal advantages  and  privileges  it  secures.  The 
consideration  which  ought  to  move  from  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  State  in  return  for  these  privileges  is 

40 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

regarded  as  a  burden  to  be  shifted,  land  where  it 
will. 

It  is  indeed  true  that  college  is  a  pleasant  place 
and  that  citizenship  is  a  privilege,  but  each  is  vastly 
more. 

If  the  chief  end  of  the  college  is  what  I  have 
stated  it  to  be,  it  is  important  to  form  a  clear  notion 
of  what  citizenship  is.  Vagueness  of  aim  is  to  be 
avoided  at  all  hazards.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell 
upon  the  legal  meaning  of  the  term,  or  to  discuss 
the  privileges  incident  to  its  possession.  With  its 
advantages  we  are  sufficiently  acquainted.  Its  du- 
ties are  service  and  responsibility  to  the  State,  to 
the  end  that  the  highest  ideals  of  the  nation  may 
be  realized.  These  ideals  differ  among  different 
peoples.  Their  roots  are  deep  down  in  the  subsoil 
of  racial  experience  long  since  forgotten.  But,  in- 
asmuch as  present  experiences  and  existing  con- 
ditions are  constantly  added  to  those  of  the  past, 
it  follows  that  national  ideals,  which  are  the  fruit 
of  national  experiences,  will  change. 

In  so  far  as  these  experiences  are  subject  to 
man's  control,  it  lies  within  the  power  of  every 
nation  to  move  its  ideals  upward,  absolutely  as 
well  as  relatively.  But  this  power  is  exercised  by 
the  individuals  composing  the  nation  as  a  whole. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  national  power,  expe- 

41 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

rience,  ideals,  apart  from  the  individual,  and  the 
individual  can  no  more  escape  making  his  im- 
press upon  the  nation's  life  than  he  can  avoid  shap- 
ing his  own  character.  Hence  it  follows  that  there 
rests  upon  each  citizen  a  direct  responsibility  for 
the  well-being  of  the  nation,  and  for  what  this 
involves,  the  maintenance  of  its  ideals.  This  is  so 
whatever  the  form  of  government ;  but  especially 
is  it  true  when,  as  in  the  United  States,  govern- 
ment is  based  squarely  on  the  proposition  that  the 
people  rule. 

Not  all  have  the  gift  to  perceive  the  wave  of 
feeling  which  sweeps  through  the  heart  of  a  peo- 
ple ;  to  interpret  it,  to  formulate  it,  and  to  give  it 
power.  But  all  can  understand  and  appreciate  that 
to  which  the  more  prescient  have  given  form  and 
expression.  All  must  be  able  to  follow,  though 
some  only  be  trained  to  command,  or  have  the  gift 
of  leadership.  A  great  nation  never  lacked  for 
leaders,  but  great  leaders  have  frequently  failed 
because  of  a  supine  people.  A  nation  will  be  great 
and  strong  whose  citizens,  bound  together  by  com- 
mon traditions,  inspired  by  high  ideals,  march  for- 
ward with  eager  and  steady  tread  toward  a  goal 
which  is  ever  advancing. 

To  attain  to  that  standard  requires  long  and  pa- 
tient effort,  for  it  means  that  the  vast  majority  must 

42 


INDUCTION  OF   PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

be  brought  up  to  the  highest  level  of  well-trained, 
high-minded,  efficient  manhood.  More  specifically, 
it  means  that  citizens  must  be  trained  to  easy  con- 
trol of  their  mental  faculties  as  well  as  of  their 
bodily  power: — trained  to  distinguish  between 
scientifically  determined  facts  and  loosely  rea- 
soned opinions;  to  discriminate  between  things 
and  conditions  of  varying  value ;  to  be  zealous  in 
everything  that  makes  for  the  advancement  and 
welfare  of  the  whole  body.  It  means  that  the  vast 
majority  must  be  keen  to  know ;  constant  in  ser- 
vice; quick  to  sacrifice  their  own  for  the  common 
good ;  possessed  of  a  sympathetic  understanding 
of  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  and  not  merely 
of  those  of  the  particular  class  with  which  each 
works  and  plays.  It  means  that  the  majority  must 
come  at  last  to  realize  that  a  nation's  highest  wel- 
fare is  somehow  and  always  inextricably  a  part 
of  the  highest  welfare  of  mankind  everywhere; 
though,  because  of  his  finiteness  and  the  limita- 
tions of  time  and  space,  man's  service  to  man- 
kind can  be  best  rendered  through  the  channels 
of  a  particular  nationality  and  under  allegiance  to 
a  particular  government.  The  nation  that  would 
grow  from  great  to  greater  must  bring  the  vast 
majority  of  its  citizens  to  cherish  the  principles 
upon  which  the  government  is  founded  ;  to  know 

43 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

the  nation's  experiences,  and  to  render  a  service 
that  may  be  described  briefly  as  consisting  in  effi- 
cient performance,  by  all,  of  the  duties  prescribed 
for  all,  and  in  the  assumption,  by  each,  of  his  full 
share  of  the  burdens  of  government.  Citizenship 
of  this  kind  is  no  mere  ideal.  It  is  a  composite 
of  ideals  and  action.  Ideals  unattempted  are  dead 
things;  they  shrivel  up  as  the  disused  powers  of 
the  body  atrophy.  On  the  other  hand,  action,  not 
inspired  and  regulated  by  ideals,  is  motiveless, 
unhuman,  machine-like. 

As  I  have  said,  to  accomplish  this  result  is  a  vast 
business, — time  and  patience  are  prime  requisites 
to  the  task.  It  can  be  done  by  no  one  person  or 
separate  group  of  persons.  In  a  sense  it  must  be 
everybody's  business ;  but  it  must  be  the  particu- 
lar business  of  some  to  set  in  motion  and  keep 
going  the  force  that  is  to  actuate  the  whole  body 
of  the  people.  The  thing  won't  get  itself  done,  and 
the  agency  selected  must  keep  the  object  aimed  at 
constantly  in  view.  The  preparatory  schools  are 
of  necessity  preoccupied  with  mental  drill- work, 
— with,  at  most,  the  rudiments  of  learning.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  vocational  schools  are  engaged 
in  preparing  their  students  to  earn  a  living,  or 
to  pursue  research  in  some  particular  direction. 
As  in  the  preparatory  schools,  the  work  of  the 

44 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

instructor  is  with  the  individual,  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  individual  himself;  w^hereas  the  busi- 
ness of  lifting  citizenship  to  a  higher  level  requires 
v^^ork  with  the  individual  and  a  life  for  the  individ- 
ual of  a  kind  that  will  fit  him  to  think  and  act  for 
the  State  and  for  the  whole  body  of  society.  To 
hope  that,  while  one  is  chiefly  and  intensely  occu- 
pied with  learning  how  to  serve  self,  he  will,  some- 
how, in  the  process,  come  to  know  how  to  serve 
society  and  the  State,  except  by  relieving  them 
of  the  burden  of  his  support,  is  as  idle  as  to  hope 
to  regenerate  the  world  by  shutting  one's  self  up 
in  a  monastery.  The  problems  of  government  and 
society  are  quite  as  definite  as  the  problems  of 
any  business  or  profession,  but  they  are  far  more 
complex  and  difficult,  for  they  include  every  other. 
They  are  always  objective  and  impersonal,  while 
most  others  are  subjective,  and  have  primarily  to 
do  with  self's  welfare.  Under  the  established  order 
of  educational  work  in  the  United  States,  the  col- 
lege is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  task  of  training 
citizens  to  this  kind  of  citizenship. 

But  while  I  believe  it  to  be  the  chief  end  of  the 
American  college  to  devote  itself  to  this  task,  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  it  has  no  other  aim.  It  has 
several  others,  but  they  are  secondary  or,  more 
properly,  contributory,  or  complementary,  to  this 

45 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

chief  end.  For  example,  it  is  certainly  an  object  of 
the  college  to  prepare  students  for  the  vocational 
schools.  When,  however,  we  reflect  that  some 
only  are  to  be  lawyers  or  doctors  or  clergymen 
or  chemists  or  engineers,  though  all  are  citizens, 
it  is  clear  that  the  college  ought  not  to  make  the 
preparation  of  students  for  the  professional  schools 
the  chief  end  of  its  existence.  Again,  it  is  true  that 
institutions,  other  than  the  college,  are  actively 
engaged  in  training  men  and  women  to  the  obliga- 
tions of  citizenship.  The  churches,  the  primary  and 
secondary  schools,  and,  one  may  fairly  add,  the 
hospitals  and  prisons,  are  so  engaged ;  but  in  none 
of  these  instances  can  we  properly  say  that  this 
is  their  chief  object.  Also,  there  are  ways  quite 
individual  and  non-institutional  by  which  many 
of  the  great  citizens  of  every  nation  have  made 
themselves,  or  have  been  made,  fit  for  citizenship. 
None  of  these  considerations,  however,  relieves 
the  college  of  its  peculiar  responsibility.  Hence, 
we  ought,  by  no  means,  to  give  assent  to  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  college  has  outlived  its  usefulness, 
and  should  either  sink  into  the  high  school  or  be 
merged  in  the  university.  Until  the  ideal  of  citi- 
zenship shall  have  been  realized,  the  integrity  of 
the  college  must  be  preserved,  whether  it  main- 
tains an  independent  existence,  or  is  part  of  a  uni- 

46 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

versity .  The  American  college,  like  the  American 
state,  is  a  vital  part  of  our  system. 

It  has  long  been  the  proud  boast  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  that  they  have  educated  the  governors 
of  England.  Should  it  not  be  the  boast  of  the 
American  colleges  that  they  are  performing  the 
same  kind  of  service  for  the  United  States  ?  But 
the  governors  of  England  and  the  governors  of 
America  are  drawn  from  different  classes,  and  the 
methods  adopted  must  differ  accordingly.  Mea- 
sured by  quantity  alone,  our  problem  is  vastly 
more  difficult  than  that  of  England. 

I  pass  novv^  from  the  general  proposition  to  its 
application  to  the  college.  How  can  the  college 
best  accomplish  this  chief  end  of  its  existence .? 
No  organization  becomes  effective  until  it  finds 
itself.  The  process  by  which  this  is  accomplished 
depends  upon  a  few  general  principles  of  action, 
which,  in  the  case  of  any  particular  college,  may 
be  stated  as  follows :  In  the  first  place,  there  must 
be  a  clear  understanding,  on  the  part  of  all  con- 
cerned, of  the  function  of  the  college,  that  is  to 
say,  a  common  object;  otherwise  there  will  be 
divided  counsels  among  those  in  authority  and 
friction  with  those  under  authority.  In  the  second 
place,  there  must  be  a  determined  purpose  to  carry 
out  this  object.  The  atmosphere  of  an  institution, 

47 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE 

whose  members  lack  the  courage  of  their  convic- 
tions, is  deadly,  and  will  produce  weak  men  and 
pusillanimous  citizens.  There  must  be,  in  the  third 
place,  a  broad,  vigorous,  common  life,  and  it  must 
include  the  whole  body  —  faculty  as  well  as  un- 
dergraduates. Anything  which  separates  men  into 
classes,  based  on  objects  opposed  or  unfriendly  to 
the  main  object  of  the  college,  is  out  of  place  and, 
in  the  end,  will  inevitably  divert  the  aim  of  the 
institution  and  change  its  character.  There  will 
always,  of  course,  be  groups  within  the  whole 
body.  Diversity  of  taste,  of  temperament,  of  pre- 
vious affiliations,  will  naturally  and  properly  divide 
men  into  groups  for  different  purposes ;  but  each, 
according  to  its  kind,  must  contribute  its  share 
to  the  great  end  for  which  the  whole  exists,  if 
it  would  qualify  for  a  permanent  and  honorable 
place.  Among  the  crew  of  a  battleship  are  many 
classes  and  groups,  official  and  otherwise ;  but  all 
must  work  together  as  one  well-organized,  har- 
monious whole,  if  efficiency  in  action  is  to  be 
secured. 

The  value  of  a  common  life  for  the  college  is 
appreciated  the  moment  one  grasps  the  supreme 
object  of  its  existence.  The  nation  demands,  and 
tradition  prescribes,  a  common  life  for  the  people 
of  this  country,  and  everything  within  our  colleges, 

48 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

which  makes  against  the  spirit  of  this  demand, 
affects  injuriously  both  the  college  and  the  char- 
acter of  our  citizenship.  Indeed,  I  would  go  a  step 
further,  and  say  that,  unless  the  colleges  respond 
to  this  demand  by  shaping  the  life  within  their 
walls  in  accordance  with  its  spirit,  they  had  best 
be  allowed  to  die.  Conversely,  the  colleges  have 
it  in  their  power  to  shape  the  future  of  govern- 
ment in  the  United  States,  if  they  seize  the  op- 
portunity that  is  theirs.  The  common  life  of  any 
community  is  broad  and  vigorous  when  each  mem- 
ber shares  in  it  to  the  fullest  extent  consistent  with 
his  powers  and  qualifications,  but  subject  always 
to  that  sound  maxim  of  equity:  Sic  utere  tuo  ut 
alienas  non  lades.  For  example,  the  tradition 
which  separates  the  faculty  and  students  is  wholly 
inconsistent  with  this  principle  of  a  common  life. 
There  is  a  distinction  between  the  two  groups,  of 
course,  but  it  is  based  on  something  higher  and 
finer  than  mere  authority.  The  active  body  of  the 
college  is,  in  reality,  divided  into  five  large  groups, 
of  which  four  are  undergraduates.  The  fifth  is 
composed  of  graduate  students,  commonly  called 
the  faculty,  who,  by  virtue  of  their  larger  expe- 
rience and  longer  training,  are  given  places  of 
authority.  When,  at  the  end  of  his  school-fife,  a 
young  man  elects  to  enter  college,  he  voluntarily 

49 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

associates  himself  with  a  body  of  educated,  culti- 
vated men.  He,  so  to  speak,  puts  on  the  intellec- 
tual toga  virilis.  He  elects  to  cast  aside  henceforth 
the  things  of  boyhood,  and  to  associate  with  men. 
He  has  taken  a  long  step  upward,  —  vaulted  from 
boyhood  into  manhood,  one  might  say.  To  de- 
mand that  he  be  granted  the  freedom  of  manhood 
and,  at  the  same  time,  be  excused  from  its  respon- 
sibilities, is  childish.  It  must  be  assumed  that  he 
is  in  sympathy  with  the  object  of  the  institution 
with  which  he  has  affiliated  himself,  even  if  he  sees 
it  but  dimly  at  first,  and  that  he  stands  ready  to 
cooperate  loyally,  and  to  the  full  extent  of  his 
powers,  in  working  toward  that  object. 

That  this  program  involves  hard,  as  well  as 
high,  thinking,  should  occasion  no  surprise.  The 
student  has  chosen  the  companionship  of  schol- 
ars, of  men  who  have  learned  to  see  things  in 
right  perspective,  as  well  as  to  discern  their  finer 
shades  and  qualities.  In  such  company,  it  is  to 
be  expected  that  the  sports  of  the  field  will  be 
subordinated  to  intellectual  interests,  and  that  the 
common  purpose  demands  a  common  life  in 
which  all  shall  share.  If  our  young  man  objects 
to  this  standard,  if  he  seeks  a  pleasant  place  of 
residence  in  which  to  while  away  four  happy,  care- 
less years,  let  him  not  seek  entrance  to  the  college 

50 


INDUCTION   OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

whose  aim  is  high  and  serious.  He  will  be  out  of 
place  there. 

Assuming  the  soundness  of  the  general  propo- 
sition, in  what  way  should  it  affect  the  actual  life 
of  our  colleges  ?  The  question  can  be  conveniently 
treated  under  three  heads :  the  care  of  the  body, 
the  training  of  the  mind,  and  the  development  of 
the  moral  and  religious  nature. 

( 1 )  As  sound  bodies  conduce  to  clear  thinking, 
and  clear  thinking  is  essential  to  good  citizenship, 
it  follows  that  careful  attention  should  be  given 
to  physical  training.  Every  college  man  should 
participate  in  some  sport.  Bodily  skill  and  balance 
furnish  not  only  healthful  and  enjoyable  relax- 
ation from  the  pursuits  of  the  study,  but  contribute 
directly  to  one's  control  of  the  intellectual  faculties. 
The  bare  statement  of  these  undisputed  truths  is 
condemnation  enough  of  one-sided  development 
of  athletics  in  our  colleges.  "  Supporting  the  team  " 
in  the  cheering  section  is  an  unwarrantable  sacri- 
fice just  in  so  far  as  it  takes  any  man  away  from 
his  own  exercise.  Spontaneous  cheering  is  natural 
and  commendable;  but  organized,  it  easily  degen- 
erates into  a  purpose  to  disconcert  the  oppos- 
ing team,  and  in  so  far  forth  is  unsportsmanlike. 
The  movement  toward  the  further  development 
of  intramural  athletics  is  a  direct  response  to  the 

51 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

demand  that  every  college  man  should  engage 
regularly  in  some  form  of  health-giving  sport. 
Intercollegiate  athletics,  within  reasonable  limits, 
are  productive  of  good  results,  but  the  limits  are 
easily  exceeded.  We  Americans  are  justly  charged 
v^ith  overdoing  things.  Our  enthusiastic  athlete 
proves  too  much  for  his  case.  It  is  true  that  inter- 
collegiate athletics  stir  up  an  interest  in  sport ;  that 
to  put  a  winning  team  in  the  field  inspires  a  still 
greater  enthusiasm;  that  it  develops  admirable 
nerve ;  that  it  keeps  men  out  of  mischief  and  adver- 
tises the  college.  But  it  is  also  true  that  a  school 
for  athletes,  devoting  its  whole  time  and  energy  to 
the  business,  would  be  far  more  successful  in  these 
respects,  and  that  over-developed  athletic  activities 
in  a  college  advertise  it  in  a  way  to  be  deplored. 

In  other  words,  we  should  be  governed  in  this 
matter,  as  in  every  other,  by  constant  reference 
to  the  object  we  have  in  view.  It  is  neither  fitting 
nor  necessary  that  college  students  should  culti- 
vate professional  skill  in  any  of  their  sports,  inter- 
collegiate or  otherwise.  They  should  ''play  the 
game"  with  as  much  skill  as  is  consistent  with 
devotion  to  the  chief  end  of  the  college,  and  no 
more;  or,  to  express  it  somewhat  more  specifi- 
cally, with  as  much  skill  as  is  possible  to  those 
who  are  devoting  themselves  to  the  task  of  train- 

52 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

ing  their  minds  to  grasp  and  deal  with  the  most 
serious  problems  of  the  age,  —  the  problems  of 
citizenship;  with  as  much  skill  as  is  consistent 
with  membership  in  an  institution  whose  chief 
end  is  intellectual  rather  than  physical. 

But  the  moment  so  much  is  said,  it  becomes  ap- 
parent that  the  burden  rests  upon  the  authorities 
of  the  college  to  see  to  it  that  the  intellectual  in 
the  life  of  the  place  flows  strong  and  clear.  It  is 
narrow  and  short-sighted  to  cut  off,  or  even  dimin- 
ish, athletic  contests,  except  for  the  excellent  rea- 
son that  they  interfere  with  something  higher  or 
better.  The  true  basis  of  any  program  for  rees- 
tablishing the  proper  balance  between  the  curri- 
culum and  the  campus  is  positive,  not  negative. 
Vitalize  and  enrich  the  intellectual  life  of  a  col- 
lege, strengthen  its  moral  fibre,  direct  its  energies 
toward  a  definite  goal,  and  the  exaggerated  value 
set  on  secondary  things  will  disappear. 

( 2 )  Coming  then  to  the  question  of  the  train- 
ing of  the  mind,  —  what  shall  the  college  man 
be  taught  ?  Vocational  schools  find  comparatively 
little  difficulty  in  deciding  what  to  teach,  for  each 
vocation  has  its  definite  body  of  requirements, 
among  which  accurate  and  extensive  knowledge 
plays  the  largest  part.  But  the  college  cannot 
avoid  the  difficulty  that  inevitably  accompanies  the 

53 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

training  of  powers  and  the  cultivation  of  a  way  of 
looking  at  things,  as  distinguished  from  the  acqui- 
sition of  knowledge.  To  adopt  as  a  plank  in  our 
educational  platform  the  statement  which  I  have 
ventured  to  formulate  concerning  the  college,  does 
not  lessen  the  difficulty,  for  citizenship  of  the  kind 
described  is  possible  only  among  men  whose  minds 
are  well  trained  and  broadly  cultivated,  and  whose 
view  of  hfe  is  generous,  as  well  as  clear.  It  there- 
fore follows  that  those  subjects  should  be  taught 
which  train  the  several  aptitudes  and  powers  of 
the  mind.  Extensive  knowledge  cannot  take  the 
place  of  intensive  training.  While  all  subjects  lend 
themselves  to  this  result,  some  are  more  suitable 
than  others.  Experience  has  proved  the  value  of 
language,  mathematics,  philosophy,  and  science. 
The  several  subjects  included  in  any  one  of  these 
general  groups  call  out  and  develop  the  same  kind 
of  powers.  Taken  together,  any  one  group  of  such 
subjects  constitutes  a  field  of  knowledge,  which, 
for  the  student,  is  a  training-ground,  different  in 
character  and  discipline  from  any  other.  The  sub- 
jects of  each  group  supplement  and  complement 
the  subjects  of  any  other  group.  Thus,  though  it 
is  impossible  to  be  well  informed  in  all  subjects, 
it  is  within  the  reach  of  every  man  of  average 
ability  to  be  trained  in  the  intellectual  processes 

54 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

and  informed  concerning  the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  each  field  of  knowledge.  Therefore  every 
college  student  should  be  required  to  take  courses 
in  each  of  these  general  fields  or  groups.  Breadth 
of  training  makes  a  balanced  man,  and  balance  is 
as  essential  to  intellectual  progress  as  to  walking. 
It  is  a  condition  precedent  to  success  to  the  scholar 
as  well  as  to  the  citizen.  Viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  personal  inclination  and  taste,  the  same 
program  should  be  followed,  for  the  student  can 
exercise  no  intelligent  choice  between  the  several 
groups  of  subjects  until  he  has  been  made  familiar 
with  the  extent  and  general  character  of  each. 
Within  the  limits  of  any  one  field,  however,  the 
case  is  entirely  different.  There,  great  freedom  of 
choice  should  prevail. 

That  some  subjects  produce  better  results  than 
others  in  the  same  general  group  is  due  rather  to 
the  accident  of  time  and  to  perfection  of  method, 
than  to  qualities  inherent  in  the  subjects.  Consider, 
for  example,  the  teaching  of  Greek.  Both  the  lan- 
guage and  the  method  of  instruction  have  been 
standardized,  if  I  may  borrow  a  term  from  the 
shops.  This  result  has  come  about,  in  part,  because 
the  language  is  "dead,"  thereby  lending  itself 
to  fixed  methods  of  analysis  and  treatment,  and 
in  part  because  it  has  been  studied  long  enough, 

55 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

since  its  revival,  to  enable  teachers  to  agree  upon 
the  authors  to  be  read  and  the  order  in  which  their 
work  can  most  profitably  be  placed  before  the 
student. 

These  considerations  give  to  Greek,  as  to  Latin, 
a  peculiar  claim  to  consideration  as  a  discipline, 
wholly  aside  from  the  question  of  literary  quality 
and  historic  value.  A  like  result,  so  far  as  intel- 
lectual training  is  concerned,  may  be  obtained  in 
the  teaching  of  a  modern  language,  but  with  far 
greater  difficulty.  Methods  of  teaching,  the  sub- 
stance and  extent  of  courses,  differ  so  widely,  that 
in  reducing  the  results  to  ^  common  basis  for  class- 
room work,  serious  loss  is  inevitable.  Furthermore, 
the  outcry  that  is  heard  when  a  modern  language 
is  thoroughly  taught,  raises  the  suspicion  that  op- 
position to  classics  is  due  largely  to  the  very  thing 
which  commends  them  to  the  educator,  namely 
their  value  as  training  subjects.  If  modern  lan- 
guages are  to  be  treated  as  substitutes  for  the 
classics  in  any  real  sense,  they  must  be  studied 
with  the  same  degree  of  attention  to  grammatical 
construction  and  composition  that  is  required  of 
the  student  of  Latin  and  Greek,  subject  only  to 
such  differences  as  arise  because  of  the  fact  that 
they  are  still  spoken  languages.  To  those  who  ad- 
vocate the  substitution  solely  on  the  ground  that 

56 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

French  and  German  are  useful  languages,  and 
that  thoroughness  is  less  essential  than  facility,  I 
have  only  to  repeat  that  the  college  is  not  a  voca- 
tional school,  and  that  mastery  of  one's  mental 
processes  is  more  important  than  fulness  of  know- 
ledge and  ease  of  expression.  *' There  is  love  of 
knovv^ing  without  the  love  of  learning,"  said  Con- 
fucius; *'the  beclouding  here  leads  to  dissipation 
of  mind." 

The  same  reply  can  be  made  to  those  who  com- 
plain that  too  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  sciences 
in  our  colleges.  What  is  most  often  meant  is,  that 
the  instruction  has  in  it  too  little  of  practical  value. 
Modern  life  is  set  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  laboratory. 
One  must  blunder  at  every  point  who  fails  to 
understand  scientific  method.  The  scientific  way 
of  looking  at  things  is  essential  to  the  student.  It 
is  of  almost  equal  importance  to  the  business  man 
and  to  the  man  of  affairs.  It  is  called  into  requisi- 
tion in  almost  every  successful  enterprise.  It  ought 
to  be  applied  to  the  consideration  of  most  political 
questions.  The  problems  of  society  and  govern- 
ment are  not  to  be  solved  without  weighing  the 
scientific  facts  involved,  in  a  scientific  way.  In  all 
these  relations,  however,  completeness  of  know- 
ledge and  expert  skill  can  be  left  to  the  few  who 
intend  to  pursue  scientific  work  as  a  vocation ;  but 

57 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

familiarity  with  scientific  method  is  essential  to  all 
who  pretend  to  positions  of  responsibility  in  any 
field.  It  should,  therefore,  be  the  aim  of  the  college 
to  train  the  mind  of  every  student  in  this  method 
of  thinking,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  make  him 
familiar  with  the  common  data  and  the  underly- 
ing principles  of  the  sciences. 

The  eagerness  of  our  students  to  get  into  the 
thick  of  things  as  quickly  as  possible  is  typical  of 
American  life.  We  would  be  masters  without  serv- 
ing an  apprenticeship.  We  would  solve  age-long 
problems  overnight.  The  college  student  finds, 
for  example,  the  principles  of  political  economy 
irksome.  He  would  plunge  at  once  into  the  midst 
of  questions  that  are  taxing  the  powers  of  the  most 
experienced.  What  men  are  doing  and  thinking 
to-day  is  useful  as  illustrative  matter  for  under- 
graduates ;  but  it  must  be  carefully  distinguished 
from  that  which  is  finished,  or  so  far  finished  as  to 
be  measurable.  The  unknown  quantity  in  political 
and  social  problems  is  human  nature,  and  experi- 
ence is  its  best  measuring-rod.  Lack  of  experience 
and  ignorance  of  human  nature  are  as  fatal  to  good 
government  as  the  prejudices  of  self-interest,  and 
the  college  student  is  as  ill-equipped  in  this  direc- 
tion as  he  may  be  well  informed  concerning  fun- 
damental principles. 

58 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  program 
for  the  college  leaves  no  place  for  the  develop- 
ment of  ripe  scholarship  and  the  refinements  of 
culture.  So  far  as  the  faculty  members  are  con- 
cerned, the  necessity  of  beginning  at  the  begin- 
ning with  each  generation  of  students,  and  direct- 
ing them  with  patience  over  familiar  paths,  does 
not  prevent  advanced  work.  Indeed,  one  cannot 
keep  alive  to  the  particular  subject  he  is  teaching, 
unless  he  carries  on  work  in  his  own  field  beyond 
that  which  is  suitable  for  the  undergraduate.  This 
is  doubtless  far  easier  to  do  in  a  university  where 
one  finds  opportunity  to  try  out  the  results  of  his 
work  in  the  graduate  school  and  feels  the  stimulus 
of  the  larger  group  of  men  occupied  with  advanced 
subjects.  But  the  highway  of  scholarship  touches 
the  world  at  all  points,  and  he  who  chooses  may 
take  the  product  of  his  labor  to  what  market  he 
will. 

In  the  case  of  the  undergraduate,  the  incen- 
tive to  push  beyond  the  minimum,  or  even  the 
maximum,  requirements  of  the  curriculum,  will 
always  exist  where  the  elder  members  of  the  com- 
munity possess  the  qualities  of  leadership  and  are 
progressive  men.  When  this  fortunate  condition 
exists,  the  lecture  plays  an  important  part.  Large 
bodies  of  students  may,  with  the  least  waste  of 

59 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

time  and  effort,  be  shown  the  broader  aspects  of  a 
'subject,  and  its  relation  to  the  whole  field  of  know- 
ledge. Moreover,  the  lecture  loses  nothing  of  its 
inspirational  value  by  reason  of  numbers.  But,  as 
a  means  of  training  the  mind  and  strengthening 
the  intellectual  powers,  the  lecture  is  of  the  least 
possible  value.  Nothing  can  take  the  place  of  hard, 
regular  work  on  the  part  of  the  student,  under  the 
personal  guidance  of  a  competent  instructor.  For 
certain  subjects,  I  am  convinced  that  no  better 
method  will  be  found  than  that  which  is  pursued 
under  the  preceptorial  system  at  Princeton,  and 
which  is  substantially  the  method  of  the  great 
teachers  a  generation  and  more  ago.  It  makes  the 
largest  possible  allowance  for  the  personal  equa- 
tion. It  accommodates  itself  to  the  ambitions  of  the 
scholar  and  to  the  necessities  of  the  man  of  average 
ability  or  poor  preparation.  It  is  an  effective  means 
of  binding  together  faculty  and  students,  and  makes 
plain  the  way  to  a  strong  common  life. 

The  requirements  of  the  curriculum  should  take 
into  account  the  several  kinds  of  men  who  come 
to  our  colleges.  They  may  be  divided  into  three 
classes :  ( i )  men  of  earnest  purpose,  with  native 
powers  of  unusual  character  and  promise;  (2) 
men  of  earnest  purpose  without  unusual  native 
powers ;  and  ( 3 )  men  who  may,  or  may  not,  be 

60 


INDUCTION   OF  PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

endowed  by  nature  with  special  gifts,  but  whose 
most  striking  characteristic  is  lack  of  earnest  pur- 
pose. The  men  who  compose  the  first  class  need 
no  urging,  they  stand  ready  to  seize  the  opportu- 
nities held  out  to  them.  They  do  not  rest  content 
with  mere  pass-work  or  with  minimum  require- 
ments. They  touch  college  life  on  all  its  sides,  but 
with  a  due  sense  of  proportion  in  its  several  parts. 
They  become  not  merely  well  trained,  but  highly 
cultivated.  They  carry  away  the  attainments  of 
the  scholar  to  the  enrichment  of  citizenship,  and 
become  leaders  among  men.  But  students  of  this 
class  must  not  be  left  to  supply  their  own  higher 
intellectual  wants.  To  require  them  to  continue  in 
the  training-field  after  they  have  gained  control 
of  their  mental  powers,  and  are  well  trained  in 
the  use  of  the  intellectual  processes  and  principles 
of  the  several  fields  of  knowledge,  is  a  waste,  and 
may  easily  become  a  vicious  waste  by  destroying 
purposefulness.  As  a  reward  of  merit,  men  of  this 
class  should  be  permitted  to  concentrate  upon  fewer 
subjects  in  their  last  two  years,  that  the  fruits  of 
scholarship  may  be  secured  to  them.  The  experi- 
ments which  are  now  being  made  to  adapt  the 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  systems  of  honor  courses 
to  our  use,  will  be  followed  with  lively  interest  by 
all  who  are  impressed  by  the  failure  of  our  col- 

61 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

leges  to  make  adequate  provision  for  men  of  schol- 
arly mind  and  earnest  purpose. 

The  second  class  of  men  to  which  I  have  alluded 
must,  however,  not  be  neglected.  The  danger  at- 
tendant upon  the  introduction  of  honor  courses  is, 
that  the  large  body  of  men  of  earnest  purpose,  but 
apparently  of  ordinary  endowment,  will  receive 
less  attention  and  inspiration  than  at  present.  Any 
system  which  neglects  the  training  of  the  men  of 
this  class  is  unsuited  to  our  American  needs,  for 
to  this  class  belongs  the  large  majority  and  by  it 
the  average  of  our  citizenship  is  determined.  As  a 
class,  these  men  will  not  become  scholars,  but,  by 
association  with  scholars,  they  may  cultivate  schol- 
arly tastes  and  learn  how  to  appreciate  the  best  in 
everything :  —  the  beautiful  things  in  nature,  the 
refinements  of  art  and  literature,  the  progress  of 
nations,  and  the  achievements  of  science.  Nor  will 
this  equipment  be  to  their  own  advantage  only. 
As  citizens,  they  will  aid  in  making  the  communi- 
ties in  which  they  live  better,  cleaner,  and  more 
beautiful  places.  Furthermore,  the  man  of  slow 
development  finds  his  place  in  this  class.  In  the 
end,  he  may  outstrip  his  fellows  and  make  a 
larger  contribution  to  the  world  than  the  most 
brilliant  of  his  comrades.  To  neglect  his  training 
is  to  waste  some  of  our  very  best  material ;  for, 

62 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

unaided,  such  men  may  not  find  themselves  until 
it  is  too  late. 

But  it  is  of  the  third  class  that  I  wish  especially 
to  speak.  The  young  man  who  enters  college  and 
remains  there  without  discovering  an  earnest  pur- 
pose to  be  the  best  that  he  can ;  to  do  his  part  to 
the  best  of  his  ability;  and  to  bear  his  full  share 
of  responsibility,  ought  not  to  be  in  college.  He 
is  an  unprofitable  member  of  the  community,  and 
is  likely  to  prove  unprofitable  as  a  citizen:  —  it 
is  of  such  stuffs  that  our  undesirable  citizens  are 
made.  He  may  be  brilliantly  endowed,  possessed 
of  a  strong  personality,  and  gifted  with  persuasive 
powers  to  an  unusual  degree,  but  his  influence 
is  bad,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  that  his  brilliant 
parts  cannot  be  imitated,  and  his  faults  will  be. 
Usually,  however,  such  men  are  not  possessed  of 
gifts  of  a  high  order.  They  merely  appear  to  be. 
Frequently  they  are  good  fellows,  as  the  phrase 
goes ;  but  to  be  merely  a  good  fellow  is  not  suf- 
cient  to  qualify  one  for  a  place  in  college.  In  the 
language  of  the  campus,  this  kind  of  a  man  is  a 
loafer.  He  is,  however,  to  be  distinguished  from 
the  man  who  desires  to  apply  himself  but  has  not 
yet  learned  the  art,  and  from  the  intellectually 
one-sided  man  who  at  least  loafs  discriminatingly. 
These  two  need  training  and  friendly  guidance, 

63 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

but  they  do  not  lack  earnestness  of  purpose  or 
force  of  will.  The  men  against  whom  we  should 
close  the  doors  promptly  and  effectually  are  those 
who  loaf  because  they  choose  to,  and  who  do  not 
propose  to  change  their  occupation.  For  the  college 
to  do  otherwise,  is  to  foster  and  encourage  qualities 
most  hurtful  to  the  great  object  we  are  seeking 
to  accomplish. 

This  brings  me  to  the  question  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  moral  and  religious  nature.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  this  means  more  than  mere 
morality.  Our  undergraduates  should  be  expected 
to  lead  clean  and  upright  lives  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Clean  living  is  essential  to  manliness,  and 
uprightness  to  good  citizenship.  The  virtues  of 
a  good  citizen  in  a  republic  like  ours  are  not  to 
be  distinguished  from  the  virtues  of  a  good  man. 
Aristotle  was  convincingly  clear  upon  that  point, 
and  experience  has  demonstrated  the  soundness  of 
his  teaching.  But  a  profounder  conception  of  citi- 
zenship will  be  discovered  when  we  base  it,  as 
morality  itself  is  based,  upon  Christ's  interpreta- 
tion of  the  law,  summed  up  in  the  most  luminous, 
the  most  inspiring  words  ever  spoken:  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  strength,  and 
with  all  thy  mind;  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

64 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

Without  love  of  this  kind,  intellectual  endowment, 
the  trained  mind,  and  the  most  comprehensive 
knowledge  are  nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing. 
Upon  these  two  commandments,  indeed,  hang  all 
the  law  and  the  prophets.  They  are  of  the  essence 
of  the  faith  of  western  civilization.  They  led  the 
pilgrims  across  the  sea  and  comforted  them  in  the 
wilderness.  They  directed  and  controlled  the  acts 
of  the  founders  of  our  several  commonwealths,  and 
guided  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  Wherever 
a  school-house  was  opened  in  the  Colonies,  there 
also  a  place  of  worship  was  established.  Church 
and  State  were  wisely  separated  as  organizations, 
but  they  were  firmly  united  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  of  each  community.  Upon  the  preserva- 
tion of  this  union  depends  the  future  welfare  of 
our  country,  for  through  its  power  alone  can  the 
great  body  of  our  citizens  be  lifted  up  to  higher 
planes  of  civic  life.  How  essential  it  is,  then,  that 
the  young  men  in  our  colleges  shall  be  trained  to 
live  by  the  light  of  these  commandments.  The  un- 
derlying principles  of  the  Christian  religion  should 
be  taught,  without  limitation  of  sect  or  narrowness 
of  construction.  Its  literature  and  history  should 
be  known  to  every  college  man,  to  at  least  the 
same  extent  that  the  literature  and  history  of  other 
great  world-movements  are  known. 

65 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

As  if  in  opposition  to  this  part  of  the  program, 
one  sometimes  hears  it  said  that  the  college  is  not  a 
theological  seminary.  True ;  nor  is  it  a  law  school, 
nor  a  professional  or  vocational  school  of  any  other 
kind,  as  already  pointed  out.  Hence,  it  should  not 
teach  theology ;  but  the  principles  of  right  living, 
the  foundations  of  faith,  and  the  place  and  influ- 
ence of  religion  in  the  world  are  principal  subjects 
in  the  field  of  philosophy.  To  omit  them  is  to  ig- 
nore the  vital  relation  existing  between  God  and 
man,  and  the  part  that  religion  and  religious  be- 
liefs have  played  in  the  development  of  the  race. 
To  fail  to  give  to  our  young  men  a  sense  and  ap- 
preciation of  the  dynamic  force  of  religious  faith 
in  the  progress  of  human  affairs,  is  to  leave  them 
ignorant  of  the  greatest  and  most  profound  fact  in 
history. 

If,  in  what  I  have  said,  I  have  seemed  to  some 
of  you  to  have  omitted  the  praise  due  to  this,  our 
beloved  institution,  for  past  achievement  and  for 
peculiar  fitness  to  perform  her  part  of  the  supreme 
duty  resting  upon  the  American  college,  it  is  from 
no  lack  of  appreciation  or  affection,  but  rather  that 
I  might  emphasize  the  universal  character  of  the 
obligation.  All  that  can  v^th  propriety  be  said  on 
this  occasion  is,  that  the  founder  of  Williams  Col- 
lege was  a  soldier-citizen,  who  shortly  before  his 

66 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

death  on  the  battlefield,  in  1755,  made  provision 
by  will  for  the  establishment  of  a  free  school  in 
this  place,  and  that  from  the  beginning  of  its  ex- 
istence until  now,  Williams  College  has  taught  the 
obligations  of  citizenship.  The  greatest,  most  hon- 
ored, and  best  beloved  of  all  Williams  teachers 
made  clear  to  his  students  the  value  of  civil  lib- 
erty and  the  relation  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  to 
the  State  and  to  the  progress  of  civilization.  He 
rejoiced  that  it  had  become  possible  to  instruct  a 
whole  people  concerning  the  end  of  government 
and  the  ground  of  human  rights.  "The  highest 
earthly  conception,"  wrote  Dr.  Mark  Hopkins,  *«is 
that  of  a  vast  Christian  commonwealth,  instinct 
with  order,  and  with  such  triumphs  and  dominion 
over  nature  as  modern  science  is  achieving,  and 
promises  to  achieve." 


THE  CONFERRING  OF  DEGREES 

The  candidates  for  honorary  degrees  were  pre- 
sented by  Professor  Rice,  as  follows : 


FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  LETTERS 

Henry  Pitt  Warren,  graduate  of  Yale  Col- 
lege ;  for  thirty-five  years  head-master  of  the  Al- 
bany Academy.  This  Academy,  modelled  at  its 
foundation  in  1813  on  the  public  and  grammar 
schools  of  England,  has  never  swerved  from  the 
tradition  of  those  schools,  fidelity  to  the  humani- 
ties. While  the  Empire  State  has  allowed  almost 
every  other  local  academy  to  succumb  to  the  high 
or  boarding-school,  its  capital  city  still  supports 
this  time-honored  institution  with  confidence  and 
liberality,  sensible  of  the  quality  of  its  administra- 
tion and  its  output. 

Arthur  Irving  Fiske,  graduate  of  Harvard 
College,  master  and  head-master,  for  the  last  thirty- 
five  years,  in  the  Public  Latin  School  of  Boston,  the 
oldest  school  in  the  United  States  with  a  contin- 
uous existence.  For  age  unrivalled,  it  unites  with 
age  a  continuous  maintenance  of  classical  training. 

68 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

From  its  foundation  in  1635  to  the  present  day 
Greek  and  Latin  have  been  required  of  every  boy 
for  entrance.  Another  no  less  vaUd  title  to  fame 
rests  on  the  fact  that  it  sends  more  boys  to  Har- 
vard than  any  other  school  in  the  country.  Nor  is 
this  title  lessened  because  the  school  is  located  in 
Boston.  The  Latin  School  is  not  the  easiest  wslj  to 
Cambridge. 

Whichever  claim  to  lasting  regard  be  thought 
the  higher,  there  w^ill  be  no  hesitation,  in  this  gen- 
eration, in  ascribing  the  prime  share  in  the  result 
to  the  Head-master. 


FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  DIVINITY 

Francis  Brown,  graduate  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, Hebrew  scholar  and  professor ;  Director 
of  the  American  School  for  Oriental  Study  and 
Research  in  Palestine  during  the  past  year ;  now 
elected  President  of  Union  Theological  Seminary 
in^  the  City  of  New  York.  His  relation  to  this  In- 
stitution is  a  witness  to  the  progressive  spirit  abid- 
ing in  it:  his  election  a  mark  of  the  progressive 
fulfilment  of  that  larger  hope  cherished  by  its 
late  president,  Dr.  Charles  Cuthbert  Hall,  which 
he  stated  in  these  terms:  *'To  preserve  forever 
the  activity  and  efficiency  of  the  Protestant  prin- 

69 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

ciple  of  liberty,  and  fearlessness  in  the  pursuit  of 
truth,  and  the  freedom  of  the  Spirit  in  its  inter- 
pretation." And  President  Brown  adds:  *< Com- 
bining with  this,  loyalty  to  historic  Christianity, 
while  emphasizing  the  genuineness  of  Christian 
experience  and  the  importance  of  practical  ser- 
vice." 

As  once  in  days  of  gloom  Williams  College 
showed  its  estimate  of  values  by  especial  wel- 
come to  Dr.  Briggs,  so  now  it  would  testify  again 
to  its  faith  in  an  institution,  which,  emerged  from 
the  shadows,  is  revealed  steadfast  in  the  liberty 
for  which  Christ  has  made  us  free. 


FOR  THE  DEGREE  OF  DOCTOR  OF  LAWS 

Jacob  Gould  Schurman,  graduate  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  London;  since  1892  President  of  Cor- 
nell University. 

There  are  doubtless  many  in  this  audience  who 
can  remember  the  distinct  shock  to  the  intellectual 
consciousness  of  the  East  given  by  the  founding  of 
Cornell.  It  has  taken  all  these  forty  years  for  some 
to  recover  from  it,  to  understand  the  seemingly 
defiant  declaration  of  the  founder  that  his  univer- 
sity was  to  be  "  an  institution  where  any  person  can 
find  instruction  in  any  study."  With  what  sneers 

70 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

it  was  greeted,  with  what  contempt  regarded 
by  the  high  priests,  and  particularly  by  the  novi- 
tiate of  tradition !  And  when  fairly  launched,  what 
difficulties  combined  to  hinder  it !  A  State  univer- 
sity without  the  support  of  the  State,  it  had  even 
to  create  the  schools  which  should  supply  it  with 
students.  Yet  to-day,  who  will  deny  that  the  dream 
of  the  founder  is  nearing  fulfilment,  that  Cornell 
has  rightfully  won  triumphs  elsewhere  than  at 
Poughkeepsie?  The  present  administration  has,  in 
loyalty  to  the  ideals  of  the  founder,  enlarged  the 
opportunities,  and  advanced  steadily  toward  the 
realization  of  that  novelty  in  education,  a  people's 
university. 

Charles  Richard  Van  Hise,  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin;  Geologist  and  Metal- 
lurgist, Professor  and  Author,  now  President  of 
the  University  of  Wisconsin,  —  a  State  institution 
that  can  rightly  be  regarded  as  a  model  of  its  class. 
There  may  be  some  difference  of  opinion  be- 
tween you,  sir,  and  two  of  your  neighbors  on  this 
platform  as  to  which  sort  of  university  exercises 
the  widest  and  most  beneficent  influence,  which 
is  most  truly  national,  or  typical  of  the  Ameri- 
can mind.  They  must,  however,  agree  that  it  will 
be  through  you  and  your  university  that  efficient 

71 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

aid  will  be  given  in  the  solution  of  a  problem  that 
engages  the  attention  of  the  educational  world: 
"  Whether  the  applied  sciences  shall  win  for  them- 
selves positions  in  it  as  studies  in  the  liberal  arts." 

George  Harris,  graduate  of  Amherst  College; 
Professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Andover; 
since  1899  President  of  Amherst  College,  which, 
founded  in  1821,  began  its  existence  in  a  some- 
what unusual  feeling  of  hospitality  toward  this  in- 
stitution. The  first  article  of  its  charter  provided 
for  the  incorporation  of  Williams  College  with  it 
whenever  its  Trustees  should  decide  to  remove 
this  College  into  the  vicinity  of  Amherst.  Its  first 
president  was  the  then  President  of  Williams,  and 
he  took  along  with  him  such  students  as,  despair- 
ing of  the  future  of  the  Berkshire  institution,  de- 
sired a  better  county  —  if  not  a  heavenly. 

The  century  has  proved  beyond  doubt  that 
there  has  been  ample  room  in  western  Massa- 
chusetts for  two  institutions  with  similar  aims  and 
methods,  while  incipient  regrets  and  jealousies 
have  faded  in  the  strengthening  of  a  generous 
rivalry. 

Edward  Anderson  Alderman,  graduate  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina ;  President  of  the 

72 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

same,  1896-1899;  of  Tulane  University  1899- 
1904;  in  the  latter  year  called  to  be  the  first 
President  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  founded 
in  1819  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  Here  was  estab- 
lished at  the  outset  a  freedom  of  elective  studies 
unknown  at  the  time  in  any  other  institution  in  the 
country.  A  chief  distinction  of  the  University  has 
ever  been  the  example  of  an  honor  system,  and 
this  has  eventually  brought  to  Williams  College 
what  she  to-day  counts  as  one  of  her  most  valued 
possessions.  To  the  Presidency  of  this  university 
Dr.  Alderman  "has  brought  his  zeal  for  demo- 
cracy, his  genuine  understanding  of  the  Southern 
life,  his  sympathy  for  the  people  and  their  aspira- 
tions for  culture  and  power." 

Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  graduate  of  Co- 
lumbia University,  chosen  to  be  its  President  in 
January,  1902,  under  whose  administration  it 
continues  to  be  "  a  school  of  thorough  intellectual 
training,  whose  chief  and  permanent  value  to  the 
city  lies  in  the  constant  witness  it  bears  to  the 
usefulness  and  the  nobility  of  the  intellectual 
life."  At  home  and  abroad  it  is  recognized  as  a 
public  servant,  striving  to  fulfil  to  the  utmost  '*  its 
possibilities  in  the  education  of  future  citizens, 
who  shall  be  fitted  to  serve  their  fellow-citizens  and 

73 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

the  State:  striving  also  to  utilize  for  educational 
purposes  not  only  the  resources  of  the  Univer- 
sity itself,  but  the  countless  other  educational 
resources  of  the  metropolis." 

There  are  beyond  question  problems  in  the 
administration  of  Columbia  known  to  few  if  any 
of  her  sister  universities.  To  keep  her  true  to  in- 
herited responsibilities  and  unspotted  from  the 
world,  yet  an  active  force  in  the  life  of  such  a  city 
as  New  York,  is  indisputable  evidence  of  the  pos- 
session of  talents  of  no  common  order. 

WooDROw  Wilson,  graduate  of  Princeton  Col- 
lege; President  of  Princeton  University  since  1902. 

The  date  of  the  founding  of  Princeton  College 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  a  fair  expanse  of  what 
is  popularly  known  as  history  must  lie  between  it 
and  this  celebration,  but  when  the  modern  passion 
for  marking  epochs  shall  attack  it,  a  clearly  divid- 
ing line  will  be  drawn  in  1902.  The  historian  of 
this  latter  epoch  will  not  fail  to  signalize  a  new  de- 
parture in  university,  or  rather  college,  education, 
which  is  working  a  revolution  in  the  undergradu- 
ate hfe  of  Princeton.  It  may  be  too  soon  to  predict 
with  confidence  the  entire  effect  of  this  departure 
known  as  the  preceptorial  system,  that  is  being 
watched  with  keen  interest  by  the  college  world, 

74 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

but  "it  has  already  produced  more  and  better 
work:  it  has  begun  to  make  reading  men,  and  it 
has  brought  teachers  and  pupils  into  intimate  rela- 
tions of  mutual  interest  and  confidence :  it  already 
shows  interesting  results  in  the  new  attitude  of  the 
undergraduates,  in  the  increased  ability  to  study, 
and  in  the  intelligence  of  approach  and  facility  in 
work." 

To  have  won  even  a  reluctant  consent,  to  have 
secured  the  means  for  the  trial  of  a  scheme  involv- 
ing such  enormous  outlay,  as  surely  marks  a  new 
epoch,  as  it  bears  witness  to  serene  faith,  construc- 
tive imagination,  and  creative  genius. 

Arthur  Twining  Hadley,  graduate  of  Yale 
College;  in  1899  elected  President  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity. 

There  is  no  one  familiar  with  the  early  history 
of  Williams  College  who  has  not  recognized  its 
dependence  upon  Yale,  —  I  would  rather  say  its 
intimate  relation  with  Yale  in  its  beginning — a 
relation  which  might  truly  be  characterized  by  the 
term  foster-parent  and  foster-child.  Williams  has 
drawn  presidents  and  professors  from  this  her  an- 
cestral house ;  she  has  also  found  in  Yale  a  spirit- 
ual supply.  This  may  seem  to  some  to  have  shown 
itself  only  in  the  matter  of  policy,  discipline,  or 

75 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

method  of  instruction,  but  beneath  these  external 
manifestations  there  has  been  a  recognition,  an 
appropriation  of  what  Mr.  Justice  Brewer,  at  the 
200th  anniversary  celebration,  characterized  as 
the  spirit  of  Yale,  to  make  education  the  means  of 
service  rather  than  of  power.  Through  this  intel- 
lectual kinship  Williams  has  come  to  know  that, 
in  the  words  of  Mr.  Hadley's  inaugural  address, 
"  she  must  evoke  in  the  whole  body  of  her  students 
and  Alumni  that  wider  sense  of  their  obligation 
as  members  of  a  free  commonwealth,  which  the 
America  of  the  20th  century  requires." 

Abbott  Lawrence  Lowell,  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,  Trustee  of  the  Lowell  Institute  in 
Boston,  Professor  of  the  Science  of  Government 
in  Harvard  University,  an  institution  which,  with 
a  history  stretching  over  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-two years,  leans  less  on  its  past  than  many 
a  younger  one.  Its  attitude  is  rather  that  of  the 
athlete  pressing  forward  towards  a  goal  as  yet  un- 
attained,  but  clearly  discerned. 

Harvard  is  not  merely  the  gracious  mother  of 
liberal  education  in  America. 

Age  cannot  wither  her,  nor  custom  stale 
Her  infinite  variety." 

76 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

She  asserts  no  infrequent  claim  to  leadership,  and 
she  has  generally  made  good  that  claim.  The 
breadth,  not  only  of  her  endeavor  but  of  her  real- 
ized purpose,  interprets  to  America  the  meaning 
of  a  university. 

The  Right  Honorable  James  Bryce,  Ambas- 
sador Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary 
from  Great  Britain  to  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica. 

There  can  be  no  need  at  this  moment  to  set 
forth  the  incidents  in  your  diplomatic  career  which 
the  citizens  of  this  country  have  long  been  follow- 
ing with  admiring  interest,  but  on  this  occasion  we 
cannot  fail  to  recall  your  connection  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford  as  Regius  Professor  of  Civil  Law. 

Your  presence  here  revives  thus  in  no  unreal 
way  the  historic  background  of  all  New  England 
colleges.  That  connection  had,  however,  issue  of 
more  vital  importance  than  the  furnishing  of  bril- 
liant decoration  to  a  local,  I  might  say,  provin- 
cial, assembly,  for  it  was  under  the  impulses  and 
responsibilities  of  that  professorship  that  you,  a 
second  Columbus,  crossed  the  sea  to  discover, 
to  the  surprise  and  profit  of  all  English-speaking 
peoples,  nay,  of  the  civilized  world,  "The  Amer- 
ican Commonwealth." 

77 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

His  Excellency,  Curtis  Guild,  Jr.,  Governor 
of  the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

Williams  College  would  gratefully  acknow- 
ledge the  courtesy  which  prompted  you  to  respond 
to  an  invitation  from  the  confines  of  your  province. 
It  is  also  meet  that  on  this  occasion  she  pay  due 
recognition  to  the  authority  that  legalized  her  ex- 
istence, and,  together  wdth  the  power  of  conferring 
degrees,  gave  aid  and  comfort  in  days  of  afflic- 
tion. Williams  College  is  proud  of  Massachusetts. 
Her  loyalty  is^  unquestioned.  In  loyalty  and  pride 
she  offers  to-day  her  highest  degree  to  him  who, 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1881  with  the 
highest  honors,  has  since,  as  citizen,  as  soldier,  and 
in  the  conduct  of  the  highest  office  of  a  sovereign 
State,  borne  unfailing  witness  to  the  best  traditions 
of  his  Alma  Mater  and  the  intellectual  life. 


ANNOUNCEMENT  BY  THE  PRESIDENT 

I  regret  to  announce  that  Mr.  Stephen  Carlton 
Clark  is  detained  at  home  by  illness  —  fortunately 
not  serious.  It  has  been  suggested  by  the  donors, 
of  whom  Mr.  Clark  is  one,  that  under  the  circum- 
stances the  dedication  exercises  at  the  new  build- 
ing be  omitted,  and  that  no  formal  addresses  of 
presentation  and  acceptance  be  made.  It  is  fitting, 

78 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

however,  and  within  the  spirit  of  this  request,  that 
I  voice  the  sentiment  of  the  College  by  an  expres- 
sion of  appreciation.  The  inscription  upon  the  tab- 
let placed  in  the  main  hall  of  the  new  building  tells 
of  the  gift  with  pleasing  directness  and  simplicity. 
It  reads : 

THIS   BUILDING  REPLACES 

THE  ORIGINAL  STRUCTURE 

ON  ANOTHER  SITE 

WHICH   TOGETHER  WITH  THE 

WILDER  CABINET 

WAS  THE  GIFT  TO 

WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

IN   1882  OF 

EDWARD   CLARK  LL.  D. 

ALUMNUS  1831 

TRUSTEE   1878-1882 

REBUILT 

BY  HIS  FOUR  GRANDSONS 

AND  THEIR  MOTHER 

IN   1908 

The  President  and  Trustees  of  Williams  Col- 
lege accept  the  gift  gratefully  and  will  preserve  it 
faithfully,  for  it  is  a  memorial  of  affection  for  one  who 
held  his  Alma  Mater  in  thoughtful  remembrance. 

79 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

But  it  is  something  else  also.  It  provides  the 
department  of  geology  with  a  delightful  and 
commodious  home,  admirably  arranged  and  fully 
equipped.  It  is  an  appropriate  memorial,  an  effec- 
tive building,  and  an  harmonious  member  of  the 
group  on  West  College  Hill. 

By  the  good  use  we  make  of  the  gift  we  hope 
to  justify  the  generosity  of  the  donors. 


BENEDICTION  BY  THE  REVEREND  DR.   ADAMS 

The  Lord  bless  you  and  keep  you.  The  Lord 
make  his  face  to  shine  upon  you  and  be  gracious 
unto  you.  The  Lord  lift  up  his  countenance  upon 
you  and  give  you  peace.  Amen. 

The  church  was  filled  to  overflowing,  and  there 
was  no  lack  of  enthusisam  and  applause  during 
the  exercises.  A  pleasant  and  interesting  feature 
of  them,  when  one  recalls  the  curiously  related 
histories  of  Amherst  and  Williams,  was  the  sponta- 
neous and  prolonged  cheers  which  greeted  Presi- 
dent Harris  of  Amherst  when  he  rose  to  receive 
his  degree.  It  was  a  sincere  and  unmistakable 
demonstration  on  the  part  of  Williams  men  in 
honor  of  their  long-time  rivals. 


THE   LUNCHEON 

A  lunch  was  given  in  Lasell  Gymnasium  at  the 
close  of  the  exercises  of  the  induction,  and  was 
attended  by  six  hundred  Alumni  and  guests.  Ham- 
ilton W.  Mabie,  LL.  D.  '67,  presided.  With  him 
at  the  table  of  honor  on  the  platform  sat  President 
Garfield,  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  Ambas- 
sador Bryce,  President  Eliot  of  Harvard,  President 
Alderman  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  Presi- 
dent Van  Hise  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
President  Butler  of  Columbia  University,  ex- 
President  Carter,  Frances  Lynde  Stetson,  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Adams.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  repast, 
which  was  enlivened  by  songs  and  by  class  cheers 
for  President  Garfield,  —  a  large  company  of 
ladies  had  meanwhile  occupied  the  galleries, — 
Mr.  Mabie  rose  and  spoke  as  follows : 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.   MABIE 

I  don't  know,  Mr.  President,  Mr.  Governor, 
Mr.  Ambassador,  Guests,  Alumni,  and  Friends  of 
the  College,  —  I  don't  know  how  oppressed  Dr. 
Garfield  may  have  felt  by  the  responsibility  of 
his  position  when  he  came  here,  but  I  have  reason 

81 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

to  believe  that  he  has  been  considerably  cheered 
since  then.  Certainly  no  man  could  enter  upon 
this  difficult  position  under  happier  auspices  than 
he.  The  day  itself  could  not  have  been  fairer,  nor 
could  the  mountains — of  which  Emerson  said  that 
their  names  ought  always  to  be  included  in  the 
list  of  the  Faculty  because  they  are  among  our 
greatest  teachers  —  have  presented  themselves  in 
more  friendly  aspect.  He  has  been  inaugurated  in 
the  presence  of  his  own  family,  happily  continu- 
ing to  the  second  generation  the  distinction  of  the 
earlier  generation;  in  the  presence  of  innumer- 
able friends,  —  who  is  not  his  friend  ?  —  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  great  body  of  alumni  who  are  to  become 
his  friends  if  they  have  not  already  established  that 
relation  with  him,  and  in  the  presence  of  this  noble 
group  of  educators  from  all  over  the  country.  He 
comes  at  a  happy  hour,  after  two  administrations 
which  have  put  the  College  —  I  think  I  may  say 
even  in  this  presence  —  in  the  forefront  of  Amer- 
ican colleges.  First,  the  genial,  kindly,  wise,  de- 
voted administration  of  President  Henry  Hopkins. 
I  shall  always  think  of  him  as  he  spoke  two  years 
ago  at  that  memorable  anniversary  of  the  Hay- 
stack Meeting  in  the  Chapel,  with  the  eloquence 
of  perfect  simplicity  and  sincerity,  expressing  his 
conception  of  religion  as  the  animating  principle 

82 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

in  a  man's  life,  free,  generous,  and  progressive ;  and 
then,  again,  as  he  spoke  after  the  baccalaureate 
sermon  at  Commencement  those  few,  simple,  sin- 
cere words  so  full  of  the  heart  of  the  man,  of  his 
beautiful  spirit,  and  of  his  devotion.  He  passed  out 
of  our  sight,  but  he  has  passed  into  our  hearts.  His 
life  is  part  of  the  spiritual  endowment  of  the  Col- 
lege. And  before  him  the  College  enjoyed  twenty 
years  of  the  administration  of  President  Carter, 
who  brought  here  a  reputation  as  a  scholar,  and 
who,  during  the  term  of  his  office,  held  the  College 
with  a  firm  hand  to  the  ideals  of  character  and  con- 
duct and  intellectual  life,  to  whom,  to  its  last  day, 
the  College  will  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude. 

Now,  in  due  course  of  the  proprieties  of  such 
an  occasion  as  this,  I  should  introduce  to  you  first 
the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  next  the 
British  Ambassador ;  but  both  of  these  gentlemen 
have  no  relation  to  time-tables,  and  v^th  charac- 
teristic generosity  both  of  them  have  assigned 
their  places  in  the  due  order  to  others  whose  rela- 
tion to  the  time-tables  is  intimate. 

We  are  to-day  fortunate  in  the  presence  of  a 
group  of  college  presidents.  Now,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  discoveries  which  a  student  makes 
after  he  comes  out  of  college  is  that  the  college 
president  is  a  human  person.  In  college  he  sup- 

83 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

poses  that  the  president  is  either  inhuman,  unhu- 
man,  or  superhuman.  If  he  tells  the  truth,  he  is 
always  regarded  as  tyrannical  and  cruel.  If  he  is 
agreeable,  he  is  always  denounced  as  a  person 
whose  word  is  not  to  be  depended  upon.  Every 
college  president  has  to  choose  between  these 
alternatives.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  gentlemen,  the 
position  is  a  very  difficult  one,  and  as  we  discover 
years  afterwards,  a  college  president  shares  in  our 
humanity. 

There  is  a  delightful  story  told  by  Mr.  Lowell 
of  one  of  President  Eliot's  predecessors.  This  old 
President  of  Harvard  College,  as  it  was  in  those 
days,  had  noticed  that  the  students  frequented  a 
certain  tavern  in  great  numbers,  and  he  made  up 
his  mind,  after  expressing  that  insatiable  curiosity 
which  is  characteristic  of  college  administrators, 
to  discover  the  reason.  So  one  day,  during  recita- 
tion-time, he  went  to  the  tavern,  sat  down,  and 
when  the  proprietor  came  to  him  said,  "  Mr.  So- 
and-so,  the  students  come  here  in  great  numbers, 
do  they  not?"  —  "Yes,  sir,  they  do."  —  "Now," 
said  he,  "is  there  anything  that  they  have  when 
they  come  here?"  The  proprietor,  thinking  that 
the  president  of  the  college  knew  the  ground  on 
which  he  was  standing,  said  frankly,  "There  is." 
The  president  said,  "Will  you  bring  it  to  me?" 

84 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

So  a  cup  was  brought  to  him  filled  —  I  speak  sub- 
ject to  President  Eliot's  correction  —  with  what 
was  then  called  "egg-flip,"  not  known,  I  believe, 
to  modern  taste.  The  President  sipped  it  slowly 
and  with  evident  contentment,  and  then  called  the 
proprietor  again  and  said  to  him,  "The  students 
take  a  great  deal  of  this,  don't  they?" — "Yes, 
sir,  they  do."  —  "Well,"  said  the  president,  "I 
should  think  they  would ! " 

Now,  I  am  not  sure  that  any  academic  occasion 
anywhere  would  be  complete  unless  the  oldest  uni- 
versity in  the  country  were  represented.  Perhaps 
you  noticed  to-day  that  no  degree  was  conferred 
upon  President  Eliot.  That  was  because  Williams 
College  was  the  first  college,  after  President 
Eliot's  inauguration  at  Cambridge,  to  confer  an 
honorary  degree  upon  him.  We  did  confer  an 
honorary  degree  to-day  upon  a  distinguished  Har- 
vard man.  Professor  Abbott  Lawrence  Lowell. 
Mr.  Bryce  has  written  the  great  book  on  the 
American  Commonwealth,  and  I  think  ten  years 
from  now  we  shall  all  be  agreed  that  Mr.  Lowell 
has  written  the  great  book  on  the  English  Gov- 
ernment and  People. 

There  is  a  tradition  that,  in  the  old  days,  when 
the  President  of  Harvard  College  opened  the 
chapel  exercises  with  prayer,  he  always  prayed 

85 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

"  for  Harvard  and  all  inferior  institutions  of  learn- 
ing." Now,  whatever  we  later  and  smaller  insti- 
tutions may  feel  about  the  superiority  of  Harvard, 
whose  achievements  and  leadership  we  are  all  glad 
to  recognize,  we  are  all  of  one  mind  with  regard 
to  the  position,  the  character,  and  the  distinction  of 
the  President  of  Harvard  College.  To  say  that  he 
has  been  a  leader  in  American  education  is  to  be 
guilty  of  a  commonplace ;  but  when  one  thinks  of 
the  variety  of  his  interests,  of  the  courage,  the  in- 
dependence, the  intelligence,  and  the  positiveness 
of  his  utterances,  one  understands  how  it  is  that  he 
has  become  a  kind  of  oracle  in  these  later  days, 
and  that  in  any  group  of  American  citizens  Presi- 
dent Eliot  must  hold  a  conspicuous  place.  It  is  a 
great  pleasure  to  greet  him  here  on  this  occasion. 

SPEECH  OF  PRESIDENT  ELIOT 

President  Garfield,  Mr.  Toastmaster,  Alumni 
of  Williams :  We  have  all  been  rejoicing  to-day  at 
the  congratulations  heaped  upon  Williams  College 
on  its  achievement — the  achievement  of  the  Col- 
lege in  procuring  for  its  head  President  Garfield. 
In  all  those  congratulations  I  have  most  heartily 
joined.  But  I  should  like  to  turn  the  thing  about 
a  little,  now.  I  want  to  congratulate  President 

86 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

Garfield  on  the  position  to  which  he  has  attained 
in  Williams  College.  I  want  to  congratulate  him 
upon  his  entering  upon  the  calling  which,  to  my 
thinking,  is  the  most  delightful  in  the  world.  We 
have  just  heard  of  some  of  the  possible  draw- 
backs in  that  calling,  and  one  of  the  drawbacks, 
perhaps,  is  that  odd  anecdotes  come  down  from 
generation  to  generation,  concerning  preexisting 
presidents.  But  on  the  whole  I  desire  to  testify, 
out  of  my  own  experience,  that  the  position  and 
work  of  the  president  of  an  American  college  is 
the  most  delightful  position  and  the  most  desirable 
work  that  I  have  ever  heard  of. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  permanent  position.  Pre- 
sident Garfield  can  look  forward  to  thirty-five  or 
forty  years  of  steady,  persistent  labor  for  this  in- 
stitution. It  is  a  rare  privilege,  that,  gentlemen,  in 
this  world,  and  particularly  in  this  American  world. 
And  then,  he  will  come  in  contact  always  with  hu- 
man nature  on  its  best  side.  That  is  an  enormous 
privilege.  Men  and  women  never  appear  to  so 
much  advantage  as  when  they  are  taking  counsel 
with  the  president  of  a  college  concerning  the  wel- 
fare of  their  sons.  I  congratulate  President  Gar- 
field that  he  can  look  forward  to  many  years  of 
such  delightful,  hopeful,  encouraging  interviews. 

Then,  what  dehghtful  intellectual  contacts  with 

87 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE 

the  youth  of  the  college  this  position  affords !  Long 
service  as  president  of  a  college  is  perfectly  sure 
to  make  a  man  an  optimist  through  and  through. 
He  will  become  perfectly  convinced  of  the  good 
in  human  nature,  overmastering,  predominating 
over  all  the  evil.  He  will  be  perfectly  sure  of  uni- 
versal salvation,  simply  because  the  cases  of  ulti- 
mate character-failure  in  the  great  stream  of  edu- 
cated men  that  flows  before  the  president  of  a 
college  are  so  infinitesimally  few.  It  is  one  of  the 
great  satisfactions  of  a  college  president.  I  con- 
gratulate you  on  it.  President  Garfield,  before- 
hand, that  when  you  see  young  men  slip,  fall,  give 
way,  sin,  you  may  know  that  almost  all  of  them 
will  absolutely  recover  within  your  knowledge. 
Think  what  that  teaches  about  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race,  when  we  remember  how  much 
more  about  motive  and  the  inner  consciousness 
and  genuine  good-will  God  knows  than  any  of 
us  can  know.  I  say  the  president  of  a  college  is 
happy  in  that  he  inevitably  becomes  a  convinced 
optimist  with  regard  to  human  nature. 

Again,  how  numerous  are  the  intellectual  con- 
tacts with  great  men,  with  remarkable  geniuses, 
with  the  conversational  lights  of  the  time,  with 
the  professional  lights  of  the  time,  with  the  politi- 
cal lights  of  the  time,  which  a  college  president 

88 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

enjoys !  I  was  talking  once  with  Dr.  Oliver  Wen- 
dell Holmes  about  the  felicities  of  life,  and  he  sud- 
denly said  to  me,  "I  think  the  greatest  felicity 
in  life  is  an  abundance  of  striking  and  interest- 
ing intellectual  contacts."  Now,  that  is  what  the 
president  of  a  college  is  enjoying  all  his  life  —  a 
multiplicity  of  most  interesting  intellectual  and 
moral  contacts.  It  is  a  most  inspiriting  intercourse 
with  mankind  which  all  of  us  in  this  calling  have. 

Besides,  I  was  just  telling  President  Garfield  of 
another  great  pleasure  that  college  presidents  in 
our  country  enjoy,  and  that  is,  a  steady  intercourse 
from  week  to  week  and  from  year  to  year  with  a 
small  group  of  men  who  are  absolutely  devoted, 
in  a  disinterested  way,  to  furthering  the  work  of 
the  college  and  to  supporting  him,  the  president.  I 
mean  the  executive  committee  of  such  a  college 
as  Williams,  I  mean  the  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College,  —  the  board  of  control  who  have 
the  initiative  and  the  control  of  the  property.  It 
is  a  great  happiness,  a  great  privilege,  for  the  pre- 
sident of  a  college  to  have  this  steady  intercourse 
with  a  small  body  of  lovers  of  their  work  and  of 
the  institution  for  which  they  work.  It  is  a  great, 
enlightening,  inspiriting  thing  to  work  for  love 
with  lovers  of  a  noble  object. 

Then  there  is  the  object  itself  to  which  Presi- 

89 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

dent  Garfield  is  going  to  devote  his  life.  He  told 
us  this  morning,  in  that  simple,  sensible,  coura- 
geous discourse  of  his,  the  object  for  which  he  was 
going  to  work  in  Williams  College, — the  making 
of  good  citizens.  Well,  many  men  have  said  that. 
It  is  said  in  almost  every  baccalaureate  sermon 
that  is  preached  before  colleges  and  universities 
of  the  country  every  year.  But  later  in  his  dis- 
course he  told  us,  by  implication,  what  he  meant 
by  a  good  citizen.  He  meant  a  man  of  intellectual 
resources,  of  intellectual  powers  well  trained,  of 
pubhc  spirit,  who  loved  God  with  all  his  mind  and 
his  neighbor  as  himself.  Now,  that  is  a  fine  defi- 
nition of  citizenship.  What  an  infinite  satisfaction 
President  Garfield  is  going  to  have  in  working 
thirty  or  forty  years  toward  that  ideal,  with  your 
support,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  flood  of  young 
men  who  will  pour  through  this  College !  Is  there 
a  nobler  or  more  satisfying  function  in  the  world? 
I  congratulate  President  Garfield  on  what  he 
has  attained  to  already,  and  on  his  prospects  of 
usefulness  through  what  we  hope  will  be  a  long 
life. 

Mr.  Mabie: 

What  is  more  interesting  than  the  contrast  be- 
tween different  points  of  view?  I  could  not  help 

90 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

recalling,  as  President  Eliot  enumerated  the  feli- 
cities of  the  college  president,  what  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  said  about  his  position  as  Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  Oxford.  He  said  that  his  great 
objection  was  that  it  exposed  him  unduly  to  liter- 
ary persons ! 

Our  narrow  definition  of  public  life  has  visibly 
widened  during  the  past  few  years.  Not  long  ago 
we  thought  that  the  only  public  man  was  the  man 
in  politics.  We  have  come  to  see,  as  Dr.  Edward 
Everett  Hale  pointed  out  years  ago,  that  every 
man  who  contributes  to  the  life  of  the  nation,  and 
every  man  who  anywhere,  in  any  field,  defines  its 
ideal,  is  a  public  man.  I  am  going  to  introduce  to 
you  one  of  the  leading  public  men  of  the  United 
States.  A  few  years  ago,  a  little  group  of  men  in 
the  University  of  North  Carolina — and  as  I  think 
of  it  I  can  see  Chapel  Hill  and  hear  the  mocking- 
birds, as  Dr.  Alderman  has  often  heard  them, 
singing  there  in  the  moonlit  nights  of  April  and 
May — became  oppressed  by  the  illiteracy  of  that 
state  and  banded  themselves  together,  with  the 
zeal  of  apostles,  to  preach  education.  North  Caro- 
lina had  objected  ever  since  the  Revolution  to 
being  taxed,  and  it  objected  especially  to  being 
taxed  for  school  purposes.  Somebody  has  said  that 
the  ideal  taxation  is  to  secure  "the  maximum  of 

91 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE      • 

feathers  with  the  minimum  of  squawk.'*  In  North 
Carohna  it  was  all  "squawk"  and  no  feathers. 
Now,  this  little  group  of  men,  of  whom  Dr.  Al- 
derman was  one  of  the  leaders,  entered  upon  a 
campaign  of  education.  They  spoke  with  tire- 
less energy  and  with  growing  eloquence  in  every 
school-house  of  the  state  and  at  all  the  four  cor- 
ners of  the  roads.  It  was  a  hand-to-hand  campaign. 
They  not  only  awoke  North  Carolina,  but  they 
awoke  the  whole  South,  and  the  result  has  been 
that  educational  movement  which  is  to-day  not 
only  the  real  reconstruction  of  the  South,  but  one 
of  the  most  inspiring  tendencies  and  movements 
of  American  life.  Dr.  Alderman  was  first  Presi- 
dent of  his  own  Alma  Mater,  afterwards  President 
of  Tulane  University  at  New  Orleans,  —  that  de- 
lightful institution  in  that  most  delightful  city,  — 
and  is  President  now,  and  the  first  President,  of  the 
University  of  Virginia;  —  and  if  any  of  you  think 
that  is  an  easy  undertaking,  you  don't  know  Vir- 
ginia. In  Charlottesville  you  must  always  be  care- 
ful to  say  *'Monticello,"  and  you  must  always  say 
<'Mr.  Jefferson,"  and  there  are  many  other  things 
that  you  must  do.  No  college  is  more  beautiful 
than  the  university,  as  it  spreads  its  white  columns 
in  the  moonlight  encircling  that  beautiful  lawn, 
and  yet  I  should  venture  to  say,  if  we  did  not 

92 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

have  reporters  present,  that  I  doubted  whether 
any  position  could  have  been  more  difficult  than 
that  to  which  Dr.  Alderman  went.  The  first  time 
that  I  went  there,  after  he  was  there,  three  years 
ago,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  a  meeting  of 
protest  held  by  the  students  on  the  steps  of  the 
library.  They  had  been  in  a  state  of  great  destitu- 
tion in  the  matter  of  quarter-backs.  They  were 
about  to  have  a  critical  game,  when  one  of  the  best 
quarter-backs  in  the  country  arrived  at  the  col- 
lege. He  was  immediately  put  on  the  team,  and  all 
the  university  fell  on  its  knees  and  thanked  the 
Lord  for  his  providential  interposition.  Then  Dr. 
Alderman,  who  had  just  come  there,  and  whose 
popularity,  based  on  his  character  and  his  ability 
and  his  eloquence,  was  a  great  asset  of  the  uni- 
versity, discovered  that  this  young  man  had  been 
dropped  from  another  institution,  —  whose  pre- 
sident is  also  here  to-day,  —  and  he  promptly 
forbade  his  appearance  on  the  eleven.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  imagine  the  thrill  of  indignation  that  ran 
through  the  institution,  and  the  eloquence  which 
was  spouted  on  the  steps  of  the  library  that  after- 
noon revived  the  great  traditions  of  revolutionary 
and  forensic  ability  in  Virginia.  Dr.  Alderman 
stood  firm ;  the  tide  rose  and  raged  and  sank  again ; 
and  then  all  the  university  said,  <*What  a  splen- 

93 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

did  will  he  has!  How  he  stands  by  the  stand- 
ards !  "  That  is  what  Dr.  Alderman  has  stood  for 
all  through  the  South.  I  want  to  introduce  him 
to-day  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  South  and  one 
of  the  foremost  public  men  in  America,  —  Presi- 
dent Alderman  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 


SPEECH  OF  PRESIDENT  ALDERMAN 

Mr.  Toastmaster  and  my  Fellow-Alumni  of 
Williams  College :  When  I  set  out  from  my  home 
in  Virginia  to  this  great  gathering,  I  set  out  with  a 
peace  in  my  mind  which  passeth  understanding; 
for  there  is  no  such  peace  as  the  peace  that  belongs 
to  the  man  who  has  no  speech  to  make  at  such  a 
function  as  this,  or  who  has  made  his.  So  when 
last  evening,  at  a  late  hour,  I  received  a  kind  note 
stating  that  I  would  be  asked  to  speak  here  to-day, 
while  I  appreciated  the  privilege,  I  saw  that  peace 
of  mind  take  wings;  for  the  consciousness  that 
you  have  a  speech  to  make,  as  man}''  here  will 
testify,  gnaws  at  your  nervous  system  like  hunger 
at  your  vitals.  I  well  know  that  it  is  commonly 
thought  of  a  Southern  man  that  he  is  a  silver- 
tongued  orator,  just  born  so,  —  that  somehow 
he  can  thrust  the  right  hand  of  oratory  into  the 
frock  coat  of  statesmanship  and  eloquence  of  any 

94 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

sort  will  gurgle  forth.  But  that  is  not  my  condi- 
tion, and  I  am  always  reduced  to  the  necessity  of 
thinking  and  even  of  writing.  And  besides,  I  feel 
to-day  that  there  is  hardly  anything  worthy  left 
to  be  said,  so  much  that  is  worthy  has  been  said. 
I  am  exactly  in  the  condition  illustrated  by  that 
story  you  may  have  heard  of  the  somewhat  arbi- 
trary method  of  determining  the  nationality  of  a 
man  by  the  way  in  which  he  goes  out  of  a  trolley 
car.  If  an  Englishman  goes  out  of  a  trolley  car, 
he  justs  gets  right  up  and  goes  right  out  of  the  car. 
If  an  Irishman  goes  out  of  a  trolley  car,  before 
he  starts  he  looks  around  to  see  if  he  has  left  any- 
thing. If  a  Scotchman  goes  out  of  a  trolley  car,  he 
looks  around  to  see  if  anybody  else  has  left  any- 
thing. Being  of  Scotch  blood,  I  looked  around ! 

I  should  be  lacking,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  in 
proper  feeling  if  I  did  not  give  expression  to  the 
sense  of  distinction  and  pride  that  I  have  in  being 
of  this  noble  company  that  is  gathered  here  to- 
day. I  appreciate  the  honor  and  the  courtesy  of 
the  hour.  It  is  a  noble  distinction  to  be  welcomed 
into  the  fellowship  of  the  life  of  Williams  College, 
and  it  has  been  an  inspiration  to  me,  as  to  each  one 
of  us,  I  dare  say,  to  stand  here  to-day  and  witness 
the  enthusiasm  and  devotion  of  men  to  an  ideal 
and  to  an  institution,  and  to  see  a  strong  man,  with 

95 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

a  noble  name  which  he  has  proven  himself  worthy 
of,  dedicated  and  consecrated  like  a  high  priest  of 
old  to  that  which  is,  as  President  Eliot  has  so  beau- 
tifully said,  the  noblest  and  most  delightful  service 
that  men  can  engage  in. 

I  feel  that  I  must  bring  to  you  the  fraternal 
greetings  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  There  are 
many  points  of  likeness  and  of  unlikeness  that 
come  into  my  mind  between  that  institution  and 
this.  Widely  separated  as  they  were  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  birth,  Williams  owed  its  origin 
to  a  masterful  religious  impulse  and  the  desire  of 
far-seeing  and  righteous  men  to  better  the  social 
life  about  them;  Virginia  owed  its  birth  to  one 
myriad-minded  old  idealist  who  had  an  everlast- 
ing faith  in  the  final  rectitude  of  public  impulse 
and  in  the  final  virtue  and  perfectibility  of  men. 
Virginia,  I  think,  was  the  first  deliberate  gift  of 
human  enthusiasm  and  of  democratic  idealism  to 
the  nation  and  to  the  century.  Behind  Williams, 
then,  was  the  attainment  of  the  Christian  ideal; 
behind  Virginia,  a  hitherto  undreamed-of  concep- 
tion of  civic  virtue ;  behind  both,  a  belief  in  men 
and  a  faith  in  the  majesty  and  the  dignity  and  the 
power  of  knowledge. 

Williams  and  Virginia  are  alike,  too,  in  this: 
they  are  both  situated  away  from  the  great  tides 

96 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

of  life,  away  from  the  great  industrial  centres  of 
our  time,  and  they  both  have,  as  a  glorious  and 
practical  asset,  a  certain  rare  and  noble  beauty. 
The  more  I  think  of  beauty  in  an  institution, — 
beauty  of  buildings,  beauty  of  architecture,  beauty 
of  scenery,  —  the  more  it  looms  up  before  me  as 
a  practical  spiritual  asset,  and  my  heart  goes  out  to 
the  institution,  no  matter  how  powerful,  no  matter 
how  throbbing  with  energy,  that  is  not  beautiful. 
For  you  cannot  calculate,  you  Alumni  of  Williams, 
nor  can  the  Alumni  of  Virginia  properly  calculate, 
what  it  has  meant  to  you  or  to  the  world,  in  the 
storm  and  stress  of  life,  to  look  back  and  see  the  col- 
lege with  all  its  pageantry  of  noble  hill  and  green 
grass,  —  to  see  it  in  the  witchery  of  white  winter, 
in  the  lustiness  of  spring,  and  in  this  solemn  time 
when  the  autumn  death  is  touching  its  leaves  v^th 
gold  and  russet  and  brown.  It  steals  into  the  ima- 
gination of  men ;  it  grips  the  heart  of  men;  and 
therefore  I  feel  that  Williams  and  Virginia  unite 
in  the  common  possession  of  that  most  precious 
thing — beauty. 

If  Williams  has  the  great  dignity  of  the  Hay- 
stack Meeting  investing  it  with  a  certain  spirit- 
ual charm,  Virginia  has  the  dignity  of  having 
established  —  and  is  now  about  to  celebrate  its 
semi-centennial  —  the  first  College  Young  Men's 

97 


.      WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

Christian  Association  in  the  world.  The  two  most 
scholarly-minded  Presidents  of  the  United  States, 
I  dare  say,  were  those  most  intimately  connected 
with  the  lives  of  Williams  and  the  University  of 
Virginia. 

Now,  if  I  have  one  point  to  make  this  after- 
noon, it  is  this :  we  owe  much  to  a  group  of  men, 
among  whom  the  President  of  Columbia  is  a  fore- 
most figure,  who  are  endeavoring  to  bring  about 
a  certain  international  understanding  and  schol- 
arly sympathy  between  this  country  and  the  other 
great  collateral  nations  of  the  world.  I  am  going 
to  suggest  that  we  ought,  while  not  neglecting 
that  larger  idea,  to  look  a  little  nearer  home  and 
carry  out  the  principle  in  our  own  life.  I  hope  to 
see  the  day  when  such  exchanges  of  professors  as 
now  go  on  between  America  and  Europe  will  be 
established,  at  least,  between  New  England  and 
the  South, — that  these  temporary  instructors  may 
remain  a  definite  length  of  time,  sufficient  to  teach 
what  they  have  to  teach  and  to  learn  what  they 
ought  to  learn.  And  I  am  going  to  suggest  that  it 
would  be  a  good  thing  for  this  nation  if  more  North- 
ern boys  came  South  for  their  education,  and  pre- 
ferably to  Virginia,  and  more  Southern  boys  went 
North,  preferably  to  all  the  colleges  represented 
by  the  presidents  here.  I  believe  that  if  your  North- 

98 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

ern  professors  came  to  us,  they  would  teach  us  many 
things,  —  orderly  persistence,  scientific-minded- 
ness,  technical  power,  and  many  other  phases  of  a 
high  civilization.  It  does  not  become  me  to  say  what 
they  might  learn,  but  I  believe  that  there  is  some- 
thing to  be  learned  of  a  people  who  have  suffered 
from  loyalty  to  their  ideals,  who  are  homogene- 
ous in  blood,  and  who  exalt  personality  and  honor 
above  all  things  on  this  earth.  We  have  hitherto 
relied  for  understanding  on  the  tourist  or  the 
commercial  traveller  or  the  writer  of  impres- 
sions, and  we  cannot  afford  to  neglect  these  men ; 
but  what  we  want  to  do  is  to  bring  youth  together 
whose  hearts  are  young,  whose  emotions  are  gen- 
erous, who  are  quick  to  receive  impressions,  and 
whose  feelings  are  such  that  they  will  be  enabled 
to  gain  a  splendid  vision  of  the  whole  land,  the 
whole  nation,  quit  of  all  the  memories  of  a  trou- 
bled past  about  an  unproven  theory  of  govern- 
ment, and  now  at  last  marching  all  one  way  to 
the  music  of  national  progress  and  national  right- 
eousness. 

There  have  been  times,  gentlemen,  when  it 
was  difficult  for  Massachusetts  and  Virginia  to 
speak  kindly  of  each  other  or  to  think  kindly  of 
each  other,  but  there  was  a  time  in  the  far  past 
when  they  could,  and,  to  use  an  old  and  reverent 

99 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

phrase,  in  the  providence  of  God  that  time  has 
surely  rolled  around  again.  For  many  generations 
these  people  have  misunderstood  each  other.  You 
have  all  heard  of  the  little  Southern  boy  who 
thought  that  "damned  Yankee"  was  one  word 
until  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  and  you  have 
doubtless  heard  little  better  of  the  New  England 
boy  with  a  vague,  naive  conception  of  a  South- 
erner as  a  man  whose  simple  morning  breakfast 
was  a  cocktail  and  a  chaw  of  tobacco.  Or,  to  illus- 
trate it  a  little  better,  I  think  I  will  venture  to  tell 
a  story  that  President  Wilson  told  me  last  night, 
and  then  it  was  so  good  he  told  it  to  me  again  this 
morning.  I  asked  him  to  tell  it  again.  In  fact, 
I  don't  know  whether  I  ought  to  use  it  or  not.  I 
don't  know  what  the  ethics  of  other  men's  jokes 
is.  It  is  getting  to  be  dangerous  to  take  things 
nowadays,  especially  if  you  write  a  receipt  for 
them.  I  can  foresee  a  complete  separation  here- 
after between  larceny  and  politics.  But  I  am  going 
to  tell  this  story. 

A  Southern  man  comes  home  late  at  night,  and 
his  wife  meets  him  at  the  head  of  the  stairs  and 
says,  "John,  what  time  is  it?"  He  says,  "It  is  just 
midnight."  But  at  that  moment  the  clock  strikes 
three,  and  she  says,  "  Well,  what  do  you  think  of 
that? "  He  says,  "  My  dear,  would  you  believe  that 

100 


INDUCTION   OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

damned  Yankee  invention  against  the  word  of  a 
Southern  gentleman?" 

I  think  that  idea  obtains  in  many  places,  and 
yet  I  want  to  say  that  while  these  two  great  sec- 
tions have  sometimes  faced  each  other  and  misun- 
derstood each  other,  I  believe  at  heart  they  have 
always  liked  each  other.  There  has  been  a  sort 
of  curious  interest  in  each  other,  like  that  most 
singular  of  all  reconciliations  that  occurred  when 
John  Adams  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  their  last 
days,  found  it  possible  to  look  into  each  other's 
faces  and  to  behold  there  lineaments  of  dignity 
and  grandeur  and  goodness.  Certainly,  no  sections 
in  the  world  appreciate  each  other's  approval  and 
shrink  from  each  other's  disapproval  as  do  these 
two  sections.  When  a  man  like  Lamar  has  the 
courage  to  speak  of  the  royal  greatness  of  Charles 
Sumner,  or  a  Northern  man  like  Charles  Francis 
Adams  has  the  courage  to  speak  of  the  royal 
greatness  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  there  is  a  certain  fine 
glow  of  approval  that  runs  through  both  sections. 
That  is  because  they  have  respect  for  each  other, 
and  respect  is  the  foundation  of  understanding 
and  of  appreciation.  They  are  very  much  alike, 
and  I  could  mention  many  likenesses.  There  is 
a  moral  dignity  which  belongs  to  both,  such  as 
belongs  to  those  who  have  not  acted  commonly  or 

101 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

meanly  in  great  crises.  There  is  a  notable  calm- 
ness and  assurance  that  belongs  to  both,  born  of 
the  fact  that  they  have  acted  in  great  historical 
times  with  dignity  and  with  power.  Names  big  as 
the  earth  have  come  out  of  the  life  of  both.  From 
each  have  gone  swarms  of  colonists  to  build  new 
states  on  the  Pacific  coast,  in  the  great  West,  and 
on  the  Gulf.  Great  builders  of  states,  therefore, 
both  of  them  are,  with  their  sons  looking  back  to 
them  as  mothers,  —  the  South  leading  in  pioneer- 
ing and  New  England  following  with  institutions 
of  orderly  persistence  and  power.  This  nation  can 
never  be  understood  by  one  who  fails  to  reckon 
with  New  England's  philosophy,  with  her  educa- 
tional theories,  with  her  ability  to  translate  demo- 
cracy into  efficiency ;  nor  can  it  be  understood 
unless  he  considers  the  simplicity  of  the  South,  its 
reverence  for  home,  its  pride  of  origin,  and  the 
purity  of  its  thought  about  government  and  the 
state. 

And  so  my  prayer  for  Williams  College,  this 
noble  and  sincere  foundation  of  yours,  gentle- 
men of  WiUiams,  is  the  poet's  hope  that  she  may 
mix  with  men  and  prosper;  and  who  can  doubt 
that,  with  such  a  leadership  and  with  such  friends 
as  have  revealed  themselves  here  to-day,  it  will 
prove,  as  President  Eliot  long  years  ago  said  in 

102 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

his  inaugural  address  when  he  began  that  career 
of  service  and  helpfulness  and  power  to  America 
that  is  so  complete  and  so  beautiful,  "that  the 
same  God  who  prompted  the  fathers  to  create  will 
give  wisdom  to  the  sons  to  preserve." 

Mr.  Mabie  : 

I  should  like  to  say  to  Dr.  Alderman  that  if 
he  should  happen  to  speak  here  again,  or  if  the 
charm  of  Charlottesville  should  become  known  in 
Williamstown,  in  case  of  an  interchange  of  pro- 
fessors, there  would  be  an  avalanche  down  in  that 
direction.  I  advise  him  to  go  slowly. 

I  should  like  to  say  one  word,  before  intro- 
ducing the  next  speaker,  about  the  services  of  one 
of  the  gentlemen  who  received  their  degree  this 
morning.  I  remember  that  a  number  of  years 
ago.  Professor  Bliss  Perry,  who  has  made  Spring 
Street  an  historic  highway,  and  who  passed  by  way 
of  Williams  and  Princeton  and  the  office  of  the 
"Atlantic  Monthly  "  into  the  chair  of  James  Rus- 
sell Lowell,  where  we  are  all  glad  and  proud  to 
have  him  sit,  said  that  the  campus  life  at  Prince- 
ton was  far  too  pleasant.  Now,  it  has  been  the 
extraordinary  power  of  President  Wilson,  without 
diminishing  the  pleasure  of  the  campus  life,  to 
achieve  a  result  which  many  Americans  respon- 

103 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

sible  for  colleges  had  believed  impossible.  He  has 
made  study,  if  not  popular,  at  least  necessary. 
There  is  an  inscription  on  the  wall  of  a  student's 
room  in  a  certain  institution  not  far  from  the  place 
where  Dr.  Eliot  lives,  which  reads,  "  Study  is  not 
allowed  in  this  room  to  interrupt  the  regular 
course  of  college  life."  President  Wilson  has  re- 
stored study  as  a  part  of  college  life  at  Princeton. 
I  should  like  to  say  to  you  to-day  that  I  think  he 
has  rendered  a  great  service  to  American  educa- 
tion ;  he  has  reinvigorated  the  will  and  the  purpose 
of  a  great  many  boards  of  trustees  and  faculties 
everywhere  in  the  United  States, 

Every  American  who  keeps  himself  posted  with 
regard  to  educational  matters  knows  how  efficient 
the  German  university  has  been  in  the  last  twenty 
years  in  furthering  the  material  development  of 
Germany,  —  how  it  has  allied  science  with  busi- 
ness. There  are  a  great  many  Americans,  however, 
who  do  not  know  the  extraordinary  completeness 
with  which  some  of  our  Western  state  universi- 
ties serve  the  state.  They  do  not  know  how  inti- 
mately those  universities  have  united  themselves 
with  the  public  life  of  the  state  and  become  the 
efficient  instruments  of  industrial,  creative  energy. 
The  University  of  Wisconsin  is  one  of  these  insti- 
tutions. Our  relations  with  it  have  been  peculiarly 

104 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT    GARFIELD 

intimate.  We  have  given  it  two  presidents,  Dr. 
Chadbourne,  one  of  the  most  versatile  and  ener- 
getic college  officers  that  we  have  ever  had,  and 
Dr.  John  Bascom,  one  of  the  most  inspiring  teach- 
ers that  any  American  college  has  ever  had.  I  am 
sure  we  shall  all  be  glad  to  take  this  opportunity 
of  remembering  that  Dr.  Bascom  has  just  cele- 
brated his  8oth  birthday,  and  that  neither  in  body 
nor  in  mind  has  there  been  any  recession  of  that 
burning  energy  and  that  piercing  insight  which 
made  him  a  leader  in  our  thought  a  generation 
ago.  Now,  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to  introduce  to-day 
the  President  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  Dr. 
Van  Hise. 


SPEECH  OF  PRESIDENT  VAN  HISE 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  did  not  know  that 
there  was  in  this  audience  another  gentleman  who 
had  been  so  unhappy  as  I  have  been  for  the  last 
dozen  or  fifteen  hours  until  I  heard  President 
Alderman  speak,  and  I  found  that  there  had  been 
another  man  in  like  plight.  I  also  came  here  with 
perfect  peace  of  mind,  and  found  that  peace  very 
rudely  disturbed  by  a  communication  which  met 
me  here,  saying  that  it  was  expected  that  I  should 
speak  briefly  to  you  this  afternoon. 

105 


WILLIAMS    COLLEGE 

The  University  of  Wisconsin  has  been  very 
highly  honored  by  Williams  College  to-day,  and 
as  I  have  sat  here  to-day,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that 
it  was  an  additional  bond  between  the  two  insti- 
tutions, of  which  there  are  many  which  have  ex- 
tended through  a  great  number  of  years.  Already 
your  toastmaster  has  mentioned  two  of  the  bonds 
which  connect  the  institutions,  but  these  are  only 
two.  The  Dean  of  our  College  of  Liberal  Arts  is  a 
Williams  man,  and  he  has  persistently  maintained 
at  Wisconsin,  so  far  as  he  was  able,  the  spirit  of 
Williams  in  that  College  of  Liberal  Arts.  Many 
of  our  professors  are  Williams  men.  As  has  been 
said,  Paul  Chadbourne  was  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  before  he  came  to  Williams 
as  president,  I  believe,  and  for  thirteen  years  John 
Bascom  was  the  most  potent  spiritual  force  at  the 
University  of  Wisconsin. 

To-day  I  have  listened  with  great  delight  to 
President  Garfield's  address,  since  we  know  now 
that  the  old  ideals  of  Williams  are  to  be  retained 
and  developed.  This  statement  was  received  by 
me  with  great  contentment,  being  satisfied  with 
the  product  which  you  have  sent  West.  At  the 
present  time,  the  chief  danger,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
of  many  colleges  is  that  they  are  aiming — or  a 
great  many  of  them  are  aiming — to  become  uni- 

106 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

versities  and  to  undertake  the  vocational  work  of 
the  university.  President  Garfield  has  announced 
to  you  that  this  is  not  his  aim,  that  Williams  Col- 
lege is  not  to  enter  these  fields.  It  seems  to  me 
that  in  this  decisive  statement,  made  in  his  inaugu- 
ral address,  he  has  shown  a  wisdom  and  a  courage 
which  few  in  a  similar  position  have  shown.  The 
field  of  the  College  of  Liberal  Arts  is  so  great 
that  it  may  well  be  the  ambition  of  any  institution 
to  adequately  cover  that  field.  Fifty  years  ago,  the 
only  fields  of  the  college  —  or  practically  the  only 
fields — were  the  languages,  literature,  and  mathe- 
matics. Since  that  time  there  has  been  the  rise  of 
a  great  group  of  pure  sciences,  which  have  been 
so  formally  and  strongly  treated  that  they  have 
become  liberal  arts,  and  there  has  arisen  the  great 
group  of  the  humanitarian  sciences,  —  political 
economy,  political  science,  and  history, — which 
again  are  the  field  of  liberal  arts.  Thus  the  field 
of  this  College  at  the  present  time  is  at  least  three 
times  as  broad  as  it  was  fifty  years  ago.  In  cir- 
cumscribing the  work  of  Williams,  in  deciding 
upon  this  field,  and  in  the  determination  to  de- 
velop the  work  along  these  lines,  with  the  old 
spirit,  —  the  spirit  which  has  obtained  here  for  a 
century, — is  the  great  opportunity  for  Williams. 
Those  colleges  which  attempt  to  become  univer- 

107 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

sities  without  the  resources  of  universities  are 
unable  to  compete  satisfactorily  along  the  voca- 
tional lines,  and  at  the  same  time  they  limit  them- 
selves in  this  great  field  which  is  their  peculiar 
possession. 

However,  I  can  say  to  President  Garfield  that 
he  will  require  firmness  and  strength  and  deci- 
sion if  he  is  to  carry  out  his  program.  The  same 
fibre,  however,  I  have  no  doubt  will  appear  at 
the  proper  time,  that  has  appeared  this  morning 
when  speaking  of  athletics,  and  when  speaking 
of  the  three  grades  of  students  and  the  undesir- 
able group  that  he  does  not  care  to  have  at  Wil- 
liams. He  will  have  great  need  of  fibre  to  hold 
to  this  field.  Just  as  the  college  president,  in 
many  cases,  has  been  anxious  to  make  the  col- 
lege into  a  university,  just  as  many  of  the  trade 
schools  that  were  founded  as  trade  schools  are  be- 
coming colleges  of  engineering,  so  the  ambition  of 
the  individual  professor  will  appear  to  develop  his 
department  into  the  graduate  school  or  the  pro- 
fessional school.  He  will  be  asked  to  adjust  this 
course  or  that  course  so  as  to  complete  the  train- 
ing for  certain  degrees ;  he  will  be  urged  to  add 
this  subject  or  that  subject  in  engineering  so  as  to 
make  the  student  further  advanced  in  engineering 
when  he  leaves  the  college;  he  will  have  a  simi- 

108 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

lar  request  with  reference  to  medicine,  — just  this 
subject  or  that  to  be  added;  and  if  a  firm  hand 
is  not  kept  at  this  point,  WiUiams  will  find  her- 
self, despite  herself,  developing  along  these  lines. 
There  is  room  in  this  country  for  the  college  and 
for  the  university.  It  would  be  a  great  pity  for  the 
higher  educational  institutions  all  to  become  of  the 
one  class  or  the  other,  and  it  is  a  great  pleasure  to 
me  to  know  that  this  problem  has  been  clearly 
thought  out  by  your  president,  and  that  he  comes 
here  with  a  fixed  policy  in  reference  to  it.  It  seems 
to  me  that  in  this  conclusion  which  he  has  reached 
you  have  the  assurance  that  Williams  in  the  fu- 
ture will  play  an  even  larger  part  in  the  devel- 
opment of  high-grade  men,  who  will  influence  the 
development  of  other  educational  institutions,  and 
who  will  advance  the  nation  in  even  a  greater 
measure  than  in  the  past. 

This  is  the  opportunity,  the  glorious  oppor- 
tunity, of  Williams  College, — the  great  enlarg- 
ing field  of  liberal  arts.  I  hope  she  may  ever  hold 
to  it. 

Mr.  Mabie: 

On  a  certain  occasion  when  Rubens  was  ful- 
filling an  ambassadorial  function,  he  was  spoken 
of  as  "His  Catholic  Majesty's  ambassador  who 

109 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

sometimes  painted."  —  "No,"  said  he,  "Rubens 
the  painter  who  sometimes  helps  His  Catholic  Ma- 
jesty." Now,  the  ambassador  whom  we  have  with 
us  to-day  not  only  represents  one  of  the  most  cap- 
able and  important  sovereigns  on  the  other  side 
of  the  ocean,  but  he  is  still  more  the  ambassador 
of  the  English  people.  In  fact,  we  have  claimed 
him  long  as  one  of  our  chief  ambassadors.  It  was 
an  Englishman  who  said  years  ago  that  the  most 
remarkable  thing  about  the  United  States  is  that 
it  is  always  going  to  the  devil  and  never  getting 
there.  Mr.  Bryce  has  explained  why  it  does  not 
get  there.  So  much  has  already  been  said  to  him 
and  about  him  that  it  would  be  impertinent  and 
out  of  taste  for  me  to  add  another  leaf  to  the 
crown.  It  is  sufficient  simply  to  introduce  him  as 
Dr.  Bryce. 

SPEECH  OF  AMBASSADOR  BRYCE 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  Mr.  President,  Your  Excel- 
lency the  Governor,  Fellow-Graduates  of  Wil- 
liams College:  The  warmth  of  your  reception 
both  in  the  church  some  two  hours  ago  and  now, 
for  which  I  thank  you  most  deeply,  diminishes 
the  timidity  with  which  I  would  naturally  arise  to 
address  a  few  words  to  you,  —  a  timidity  which  is 

110 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

only  natural  in  the  youngest  but  one  of  your  grad- 
uates, —  for  Governor  Guild  is  still  my  junior, — 
and  which  has  been  increased  by  the  fact  that  I 
have  spent  the  whole  of  this  forenoon  and  part  of 
yesterday  evening  in  the  company  of  a  group  of 
those  who  inspire  me  with  the  greatest  awe,  —  I 
mean  your  college  presidents.  You  have  heard 
four  or  five  of  them  this  morning  already.  Syd- 
ney Smith  is  reported,  on  one  occasion,  when  he 
was  sitting  beside  a  lady  at  dinner  whom  he  had 
in  vain  endeavored  to  draw  into  conversation, 
to  have  said,  "Madam,  I  perceive  that  you  are 
a  failure;  you  crumble  your  bread."  When  I  sit 
beside  a  bishop  I  always  crumble  my  bread,  and 
when  I  sit  beside  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  I 
crumble  it  with  both  hands.  I  have  been  crumbling 
my  bread  all  this  morning  in  the  presence  of  this 
group  of  illustrious  college  presidents,  for  whom 
I  feel  a  reverence  which  is  enhanced  every  time 
that  I  come  to  a  college  gathering  like  this  and 
perceive  how  great  and  how  increasingly  impor- 
tant is  the  place  that  they  hold  in  your  country.  I 
could  hardly  overcome  my  awe  of  them,  if  it  were 
not  softened  by  the  fact  that  personal  knowledge 
of  those  in  particular  whom  you  have  heard  this 
morning  has  shown  me  that  they  are  human  as 
well  as  superhuman,  —  especially  superhuman  in 

111 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

their  optimism,  and  human  in  the  very  best  sense 
of  the  word,  namely,  that  they  are  men  who  have 
learned  to  be  kindly  and  indulgent  as  well  as  dis- 
cerning. 

Timidity,  however,  will  not  prevent  me  from  ac- 
knowledging my  thanks  in  the  most  hearty  way 
to  you,  the  President  and  Trustees,  for  the  honor 
you  did  me  in  conferring  a  degree  upon  me  this 
morning,  making  me  a  member  of  this  ancient 
and  most  interesting  College,  —  a  College  which 
has  not  only  the  interest  of  being  the  natural  out- 
growth of  the  strong  minds  and  strong  wills  of 
rocky  Massachusetts, — which  always  reminds  me 
of  what  Ulysses  says  in  the  Odyssey  about  rocky 
Ithaca :  "  It  is  rough,  but  it  is  a  fine  nurse  of  men" ; 
— but  here  you  stand  in  this  green  basin  encircled 
by  richly  wooded  hills,  among  the  memories  of 
those  terrible  conflicts  which  gave  North  America 
to  the  British  race,  one  of  which  is  commemorated 
in  that  flagpole  and  elm  tree  which  stand  on  the 
site  of  the  old  fort  of  western  Massachusetts.  It 
is  a  great  thing,  gentlemen,  not  only  to  have  the 
natural  beauty  of  which  Dr.  Alderman  spoke,  but 
also  to  have  those  historical  associations  which 
carry  you  back  to  the  days  when  your  fathers  had 
harder  work  to  do  than  teaching  and  meeting  and 
dining  together;  and  you  who  have  entered  into 

112 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

their  labors  must  be  thankful  for  the  manly  spirit 
and  the  courage  and  the  faith  of  the  men  who 
could  withstand  the  French  and  the  Indians,  one 
of  whom  could  see  that  the  time  would  come  when 
a  school  and  a  college  would  be  needed  here,  and 
who  made  his  bequest  in  1755  to  found  that  which 
you  are  now  enjoying.  You  may  all  be  proud, 
gentlemen,  to  be  members  of  such  a  college ;  and 
I  am  glad  to  congratulate  both  the  College  on  hav- 
ing as  its  president  Mr.  Garfield,  and  Mr.  Garfield 
as  being  President  of  Williams. 

I  remember  an  old  friend  of  mine  once  said  to 
me,  "I  never  congratulate  an  acquaintance  who 
is  going  to  be  married  until  I  have  seen  the  bride." 
And  here  I  am  in  the  happy  position  of  knowing 
both  the  bride  and  the  bridegroom.  I  congratulate 
you.  President  Garfield,  on  having  this  College  as 
the  ship  whose  helm  you  are  to  take,  and  I  con- 
gratulate the  College  on  having  as  its  president 
you,  who,  bearing  an  honored  name,  show  that 
you  are  sensible  of  its  responsibilities  and  mean  to 
hand  it  on,  with  a  further  lustre  gained  in  useful 
educational  work,  to  those  who  come  afterward. 

Gentlemen,  I  had  the  pleasure — I  mention  it 
because  it  gives  me  a  sort  of  proprietary  right  in 
your  president — of  knowing  Mr.  Garfield  more 
than  twenty  years  ago,  when  he  came  to  the  Uni- 

113 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

versity  of  Oxford,  not,  indeed,  to  become  a  perma- 
nent member  of  that  university,  but  drawn  by  its 
fame  and  desiring  to  pass  some  months  of  study 
there  and  carry  away  some  recollections  from  it. 
I  thought  he  did  well  then  to  know  something  of 
our  English  university  life,  and  I  can  say  to  you 
that  it  is  very  inspiring  and  very  helpful  to  know 
something  of  your  university  and  college  life  also, 
and  to  see  how,  by  different  methods  and  yet  with 
the  same  spirit,  we  are  endeavoring  to  attain  the 
like  goals. 

If  I  had  more  time,  I  could  willingly  talk  to 
you  about  some  of  the  curious  differences  which 
strike  me  between  your  college  life  and  ours,  and 
one  of  them  which  I  should  dwell  upon  is  the 
different  position  occupied  here  by  the  college 
president,  to  which  we  have  nothing  in  England 
exactly  corresponding,  —  no  functionary  who  is 
so  important,  no  one  from  whom  so  much  is  ex- 
pected in  so  many  different  ways.  A  college  presi- 
dent must  be  a  statesman,  wise  and  tactful,  with 
large  outlook  over  all  the  educational  problems 
which  the  progress  of  the  years  brings  up.  He 
must  be  in  touch  with  his  trustees,  with  his  faculty, 
with  his  alumni  over  the  country,  with  his  under- 
graduates. He  must  know  enough  of  all  the  sub- 
jects taught,  not  only  to  know  how  the  curriculum 

114 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

should  be  constructed,  but  also  to  know  how  he 
is  to  find  out  who  are  the  best  men  to  be  selected 
for  the  professorships.  He  must  have  a  sane  judg- 
ment of  practical  affairs,  a  judgment  which  was 
symbolized  by  the  delivery  to  you,  Mr.  President, 
to-day,  of  the  power  of  the  keys,  —  a  term  which 
has  carried  down  from  the  Middle  Ages  and  from 
early  Christianity  many  deep  significances.  And 
the  college  president,  with  all  these  functions  to 
discharge,  with  so  many  calls  made  upon  him,  with 
the  growing  demands  made  upon  him  to  deliver 
his  opinions  upon  the  great  questions  of  the  hour, 
has  need  to  be  very  thoughtful  and  a  large-minded 
man.  I  think  you  could  see,  after  hearing  the 
words  that  fell  from  President  Garfield  to-day, 
that  in  him  you  have  such  a  man. 

Sometimes  it  has  occurred  to  me,  in  thinking 
of  the  place  which  college  presidents  have  come 
to  hold  in  this  country,  that  if  you  had  time  to  take 
from  numerous  other  questions  which  are  occu- 
pying your  attention  to  alter  in  any  way  your 
Constitution,  you  might  create  a  third  house  of 
Congress,  and  it  might  be  composed  of  the  presi- 
dents of  the  great  universities.  It  would  be  a  house 
not  inferior  in  intellectual  distinction  to  either  of 
the  two  houses  into  whose  hands  you  now  confide 
your  destiny. 

115 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

Gentlemen,  one  thing  strikes  me  very  much 
whenever  I  return  to  America  from  England,  and 
that  is  the  growing  importance  that  universities 
hold  in  your  country.  I  don't  believe  there  is 
any  country  in  the  world  where  the  universities 
are  so  important  a  factor  in  the  public  life  of  the 
country.  That  is  a  subject  which  it  would  be 
very  interesting  to  trace  to  its  causes  in  your  so- 
cial and  intellectual  condition.  For  the  moment 
I  must  be  content  to  note  that  it  is  a  singular  and 
interesting,  and  I  think  a  hopeful,  fact  that  in  no 
country  do  universities  exercise  so  great  a  power 
as  they  do  here ;  in  no  country  do  the  universities 
receive  within  their  walls  so  large  a  proportion  of 
the  population;  in  no  country,  therefore,  is  uni- 
versity influence  so  widely  diffused  and  does  the 
educated  class  tend  to  become  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  the  population.  Every  time  I  come  here  I 
am  more  and  more  struck  with  the  opportunity 
given  to  the  universities  and  with  the  intellectual 
authority  they  exert.  This  cannot  be  for  anything 
but  good  to  you ;  this  cannot  be  but  the  augury 
of  a  happy  and  blessed  progress.  It  is  one  of  the 
things  which  an  Englishman  sees  with  joy  when 
he  comes  to  a  country  in  whose  fortune  he  is  no 
less  interested  than  he  is  in  his  own.  May  I  ven- 
ture, gentlemen,  though  I  have  no  commission 

116 


INDUCTION    OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

to  do  so,  to  express  to  you,  on  behalf  of  the  an- 
cient university  to  which  I  belong,  —  a  university 
whose  origin  we  do  not  know  because  it  began  so 
far  back, — may  I  venture  to  express  to  you  the 
hearty  good- will  which  the  members  of  that  an- 
cient university  feel  for  the  colleges  and  universi- 
ties of  America,  and  our  earnest  hope  that  they  — 
and  Williams  College  in  the  forefront  of  them  — 
may  continue  to  discharge  for  the  race  to  which 
we  belong  such  functions  as  our  universities  have 
fulfilled  in  England  for  eight  centuries,  and  such 
functions  as  yours  are  now  fulfilling,  to  the  bless- 
ing and  profit  and  honor  of  your  country. 

Mr.  Mabie: 

The  last  speaker  to-day,  gentlemen,  is  the  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Commonwealth.  It  is  entirely  in  the 
order  of  fitness  that  the  Governor  of  Massachu- 
setts should  be  not  only  a  college  man,  but  a  man 
cultivated  in  all  the  generous  arts.  I  am  told  that 
he  especially  likes  to  go  to  Holy  Cross,  because 
there  the  study  of  Latin  is  alive  and  they  under- 
stand his  quotations.  Now,  I  want  to  say  to  him 
that  if  he  chooses  to  quote  Latin  this  afternoon, 
while  we  may  not  understand  precisely  what  he 
means,  we  shall  recognize  the  language  in  which 
he  speaks.  I  think  it  was  Paget  who  said,  concern- 

117 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

ing  the  teaching  of  the  ancient  languages  in  the 
Enghsh  public  schools,  that  while  the  boys  did  not 
learn  the  languages,  they  went  out  of  the  schools 
confirmed  in  the  suspicion  that  there  were  such 
languages.  It  is  a  great  pleasure  to  introduce  Gov- 
ernor Guild. 


SPEECH  OF  GOVERNOR  GUILD 

Mr.  Toastmaster,  Your  Excellency,  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, Fellow- Alumni  of  Williams  College:  It  is 
a  very  great  privilege  to  be  permitted  publicly 
thus  to  thank  you  and  to  express  my  high  appre- 
ciation of  the  great  honor  that  you  have  done  me 
in  the  conferring  of  this  honorary  degree,  and  the 
particular  honor  that  I  feel  has  been  done  me  in 
conferring  it  on  this  particular  and  most  felicitous 
occasion.  Certainly,  —  I  am  going  to  quote  Latin 
now,  — Williams  in  her  choice  of  a  president  has 
recalled  the  old  Latin  tag,  if  I  may  change  the 
gender  of  the  subject,  —  ^'O  pater  pulcheVy  Jilius 
pulchriorJ'  For  certainly,  if  new  lustre  could  be 
added,  sir,  to  a  name  made  glorious  by  father  and 
by  brother,  it  has  been  added  by  one  who  has  ever 
been  ready  to  leave  the  money-making  part  of  his 
profession  to  devote  his  brain  and  energy  to  the 
promotion  of  all  acts  of  good  citizenship,  and  who 

118 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

finally  leaves  the  splendid  prospects  of  his  chosen 
profession  that  he  may  serve  the  scholarship,  not 
of  Princeton  merely,  not  of  Williams  merely,  nor 
of  Massachusetts,  nor  of  New  England,  but  of  the 
United  States  of  America. 

Standing  here  for  lack  of  a  better,  as  for  the  mo- 
ment the  chief  magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts,  you  would  not  pardon  me,  I  am 
sure,  if  I  did  not  express  to  you  the  pride  that  the 
whole  Commonwealth  has  in  this  splendid  insti- 
tution in  its  northwestern  hills,  —  in  the  days  of 
the  Colony  the  frontier  fort  of  civilization,  in  the 
days  of  the  Commonwealth  the  frontier  fort  still 
of  civilization,  —  the  frontier  fort  of  New  England 
education.  He  was  a  typical  founder  of  American 
commonwealths  and  of  American  colleges,  this 
Ephraim  Williams,  —  a  man  of  wide  travel,  unusu- 
ally wide  travel  for  his  day,  —  a  man  devoted  to 
the  public  will  and  with  little  or  no  selfish  pur- 
pose, going  forth  to  what  was  the  great  battle  of 
Lake  George,  where  Englishmen  and  Irishmen 
and  Scotchmen  and  Yankees  fought,  sir,  for  the 
prevalence  of  Anglo-Saxon  ideals  on  this  conti- 
nent, stopping  there  at  Albany  and  writing  his  will 
leaving  his  property  for  the  foundation  of  this  in- 
stitution, and  then,  with  that  true  touch  of  self-con- 
sciousness without  which  no  Yankee  is  supposed 

119 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

to  live,  penning  the  letter  of  instructions  in  which 
he  says  that  he  really  does  intend  to  leave  his 
property  "  for  the  benefit  of  those  unborn,  and  for 
the  sake  of  those  poor  creatures  I  am  mostly 
concerned  for  fear  my  will  should  be  broke ! " 
He  did  not  say  by  doctors  of  laws,  sir,  but  I  sup- 
pose there  were  lawyers  of  a  certain  sort  in  those 
days. 

He  died  the  most  glorious  death  that  it  is  given 
to  a  man  to  die.  He  died  in  behalf  of  his  country. 
He  died  the  death  that  Gushing  died  in  his  battery 
at  Gettysburg.  He  died  the  death  that  Gustavus 
Adolphus  died  at  Ltitzen,  —  shot  at  the  head  of 
his  men  on  the  day  of  his  country's  victory.  And 
the  man  died  in  a  very  splendid  way.  His  life,  for 
its  time,  was  a  splendid  life,  a  successful  life,  a 
respected  life,  a  useful  life ;  and  yet  we  have  the 
word  of  the  first  President  of  Williams  College 
that  it  was  not  altogether  a  happy  life.  President 
Fitch  says  in  his  memoir,  you  will  remember, 
that  this  soldier-sailor-pioneer  founder  of  Williams 
College,  all  his  fife,  was  discontented  because  of 
his  want  of  a  liberal  education. 

As  you  have  heard  from  the  reading  of  the 
charter  this  morning,  this  College  was  founded 
not  only  for  the  promotion  of  virtue  and  morality, 
but  particularly  for  the  study  of  the  "humani- 

120 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

ties"  and  of  such  arts  as  should  produce  good  citi- 
zenship. It  is  not  extraordinary  that  this  pioneer, 
going  to  what  he  thought  might  be  his  death, 
should  have  left  this  fund  to  encourage  an  inspi- 
ration in  the  generations  that  came  after  him  to 
bend  their  energies,  not  to  what  they  could  get 
for  themselves  out  of  the  world,  but  what  they 
could  get  out  of  themselves  to  put  into  the  world 
for  the  benefit  of  humanity. 

We  are  accustomed  to  call  upon  universal  edu- 
cation as  the  panacea  that  is  to  cure  all  the  evils 
that  arise  —  and  some  evils  do  arise  —  from  uni- 
versal suffrage;  but  if  education  is  not  used  for 
the  public  good  by  the  educated,  it  is  no  more  a 
power  than  a  stagnant  pool  is  a  power  before  it 
has  been  fitted  with  a  dam  and  a  mill-race  and  a 
water-wheel.  Educated  men  the  salvation  of  the 
republic?  The  men  who  exploit  bogus  mining 
corporations  are  not  uneducated;  the  men  who 
poison  humanity  with  quack  medicines  are  not 
uneducated;  the  employers  of  labor  who  refuse 
to  allow  their  men  to  enlist  in  the  militia  and  learn 
the  duties  of  citizen-soldiers  are  not  uneducated; 
the  business  men  who  perjure  themselves  and 
secure  further  perjury  from  physicians  to  escape 
the  duty  of  the  jury-box  which  the  Republic  has 
the  right  to  demand  of  every  intelligent  citizen 

121 


WILLIAMS   COLLEGE 

are  not  uneducated;  the  bankers,  the  business 
men,  the  clergymen,  the  college  professors,  who 
take  vacations  in  Europe  during  the  month  of 
November,  or  are  too  busy  with  the  ticker  or  the 
bridge-table  or  the  golf  links  to  get  out  and  vote 
on  election  day,  on  one  side  or  the  other  as  their 
consciences  tell  them,  —  these  men  are  not  uned- 
ucated men.  If  education  is  to  be  of  value,  it  must 
be  because  the  individual  learns  that  education  is 
a  responsibility  as  well  as  a  privilege,  and  that 
as  in  the  old  days  men  said,  *'Mohlesse  oblige,''  in 
a  republic  it  must  be  Sagesse  oblige,  and  the  edu- 
cated man  must  be  a  leader  in  any  decent  American 
citizenship. 

In  the  headlong  rush  of  competition  we  are  apt 
to  think  nowadays  too  much  of  the  so-called  prac- 
tical education.  The  old  classical  education  was 
weak  in  that  the  young  man  could  not  go  out  from  ■■ 
the  academy  or  college  properly  equipped  for  the 
immediate  earning  of  his  living,  and  it  is  true  that, 
in  order  to  make  the  largest  possible  number  of 
power-looms  or  storage-batteries  in  the  shortest 
number  of  hours,  a  man  will  not  be  much  helped 
by  the  study  of  Bancroft  or  Von  Ranke,  or  the 
memorizing  of  passages  from  Chaucer  or  Dante, 
or  the  consideration  of  Marcus  Aurelius  or  Locke. 
But  if  our  education  is  to  be  complete,  if  it  is,  as 

122 


INDUCTION   OF   PRESIDENT   GARFIELD 

you  have  so  wisely  said,  Mr.  President,  the  duty 
of  a  college  to  fit  men  for  citizenship,  if  it  is  in 
time  of  war  wise  that  the  private  soldier  should  be 
a  "thinking  bayonet,"  —  something  more  than  a 
cog  in  a  fighting  machine, —  so  it  is  well,  in  time 
of  peace,  that  the  citizen  should  be  something 
more  than  a  cog  in  a  mere  industrial  machine.  We 
do  need  technical  schools,  we  need  more  of  them, 
for  upon  the  possession  of  skilled  artisans  and 
skilled  professional  men  depends  the  prosperity 
of  any  country.  But  the  existence  of  a  nation  does 
not  depend  upon  these,  but  upon  the  men  whose 
instinct  and  education  make  them  not  merely 
capable  of  earning  a  good  living,  but,  as  the  late 
Governor  Russell  used  to  put  it,  of  leading  a  good 
life.  The  existence  of  a  nation  depends,  not  upon 
the  man  who  is  a  skilled  artisan,  but  upon  the 
man  who  is  a  skilled  citizen,  a  good  neighbor, 
and  a  good  friend.  It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  a 
man  may  be  all  these  without  the  study  of  the  lib- 
eral arts.  A  man  may  be  pure,  high-minded,  active 
in  public  fife,  who  knows  nothing  of  anything  in 
connection  with  the  drama  except  such  frank  vul- 
garity as  that  of  such  men  as  Zola,  or  <'  Tess  of  the 
D'Urbervilles,"  or  the  revival  of  the  degenerate 
dances  of  the  worship  of  the  Phoenician  "  Aphro- 
dite " ;  but  he  will  certainly  have  a  better  notion  of 

123 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

public  life  and  of  private  life  if  he  is  enjoying  the 
clean  wit  of  Oliver  Goldsmith  and  the  condemna- 
tion and  dissection  of  the  coxcomb  in  "  She  Stoops 
to  Conquer,"  if  he  has  learned  to  despise  hypoc- 
risy and  meanness  and  pedantry  with  Moliere, 
and  if,  finally,  he  has  read  and  learned  and  let  sink 
into  his  soul  that  splendid  soliloquy  on  responsi- 
bility in  public  office  which  Shakespeare  puts  into 
the  mouth  of  Henry  the  Fifth  before  the  battle  of 
Agincourt.  A  man  may  be  a  true  type  of  gentle- 
man who  has  never  read  any  other  instructions 
than  those  of  Mr.  Charles  Schwab,  advising  young 
men  to  get  out  of  school  as  quickly  as  possible  and 
get  into  a  remunerative  occupation  and  stick  to  it 
until  they  have  accumulated  their  "  pile" ;  but  oh, 
I  think  we  shall  agree  that  he  is  much  more  likely 
to  become  what  we  may  call  a  gentleman,  —  and 
that  is  a  title  of  honor  which  belongs  to  no  one 
particular  nation,  —  if  he  has  managed  to  make 
himself  familiar  with  that  beautiful  picture  which 
Thackeray  draws  of  the  life  and  death  of  Colonel 
Newcome.  He  may  be  able  to  resist  what  may 
seem  to  him  the  new  and  pleasing  doctrines  of 
Anarchy  and  Socialism,  although  he  may  think 
that  they  are  objectionable  without  any  study  of 
literature  beyond  the  Sunday  supplements  of  the 
*' yellow"  newspapers;  but  he  will  find  it  much 

124 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

easier  to  resist  them  if  he  has  read  the  story  of  the 
Leather-Dresser  of  Athens,  and  Jack  Cade,  and 
John  of  Leyden,  and  the  experience  of  our  own 
Plymouth  settlers  at  first  when  they  tried  to  hold 
all  property  in  common,  and  the  utter  failure  of 
the  French  nation  in  the  Revolution  to  maintain 
the  maximum  or  any  regulated  price  of  any  gen- 
eral commodity.  He  may  feel  a  despair  of  the 
success  of  some  good  cause  when  he  hears  how 
few  men  gather  to  support  it,  and  he  may  retire 
and  think  it  is  a  failure,  if  he  has  not  been  versed 
in  history.  But  oh,  how  much  easier  it  is  for  a 
man  to  get  hope  out  of  any  failure,  thinking  that 
ultimately  there  must  come  success,  if  he  has 
read  the  story  of  the  charge  of  the  Ten  Thousand 
at  Marathon ;  if  he  has  read  how  the  patchwork 
army  of  Leonidas  at  the  Pass  of  Thermopylae  held 
back  the  greatest  conqueror  of  his  age,  the  scourge 
of  Persia,  at  the  head  of  Asia's  victorious  army ; 
if  he  has  read  the  story  of  Charles  Martel  of 
Tours,  and  how  the  conquering  horde  of  Saracens 
was  seized  with  a  strange  fear  and  fell  backward, 
south  from  Europe ;  if  he  has  read  the  story  of 
the  great  storm  that  engulfed  the  Spanish  Armada 
and  settled  that  the  dominant  policies,  not  only  of 
Europe  but  of  America,  were  to  be  those  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  not  the  imperial  policies  of  Spain. 

125 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

A  man  who  has  read  the  story  of  history  cannot 
be  an  atheist  and  keep  his  eyes  open.  He  must 
appreciate  that  there  never  was  a  more  awful 
blasphemy  uttered  than  those  words  of  Napoleon, 
"  Providence  is  always  on  the  side  of  the  strong- 
est artillery."  Providence  is  not  on  the  side  of  the 
strongest  artillery,  and  there  is  no  more  certain 
truth  in  this  world  than  that  the  man  or  the  cause 
is  sure  to  succeed,  if  the  cause  or  the  man  is  for 
the  general  uplift  of  humanity. 

But  I  fear  I  have  spoken  to  you  too  long,  —  I 
have  spoken  longer  than  I  intended,  —  and  possi- 
bly I  have  touched  upon  subjects  which  may  make 
you  think  that  I  am  a  candidate  for  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity  rather  than  Doctor  of  Laws ; 
but  I  thank  you  for  your  indulgence. 

And  now,  as  we  depart,  morituri  te  salutant  — 
those  who  are  about  to  die  salute  thee !  And  as  we 
pass  back  again  to  the  struggle  in  the  arena  of  life, 
as  gladiators  in  the  arena  waved  net  and  trident 
and  sword  and  shield  to  the  imperial  purple  of  a 
Csesar,  so  do  we,  going  back  to  the  battle  of  life, 
wave  our  last  salute  to  the  Royal  Purple  of  Wil- 
liams. The  Purple  —  may  we  be  mindful  of  its 
significance !  Let  those  of  us,  sir,  who  wear  it  by 
right  of  inheritance  and  those  of  us  who  wear  it 
by  right  of  adoption  learn  the  lesson  of  the  color. 

126 


INDUCTION  OF  PRESIDENT  GARFIELD 

Crimson  may  be  the  badge  of  courage;  blue,  of 
sublime  hope  and  aspiration;  green,  of  vigorous 
and  everlasting  life ;  but  purple,  sir,  is  the  color  of 
fruition,  of  success,  of  achievement,  —  the  color 
not  of  dreamers  of  dreams,  but  of  doers  of  deeds. 
You  have  adopted  as  the  color  of  this  College  the 
color  consecrated  to  kings.  The  very  word  "king" 

—  in  the  old  Anglo-Saxon  *'cyng"  —  means,  and 
even  more  surely  meant  in  the  old  days  in  the  dark 
marshes  and  forests  of  Northern  Europe  when  our 
Saxon  forefathers  met  in  their  turbulent  meetings 

—  the  forerunners  of  our  New  England  town- 
meetings — and  chose  their  king,  one  whose  life 
is  consecrated,  not  to  himself,  but  to  his  entire 
tribe.  May  we  learn  the  lesson  of  the  Purple  — 
the  color  of  achievement,  the  color  of  those  who 
do  deeds,  not  for  themselves,  but  for  all  the  people 
among  whom  they  live  and  whom  they  love ! 

And  when  the  call  comes  to  us,  as  it  came  to 
the  founder  of  this  college,  whether  it  be  in  the 
blazing  sunshine  to  make  our  sacrifice  and  go 
forth  to  death,  if  need  be,  but  to  a  glorious  death, 
or  whether  it  be  alone  and  in  the  darkness,  as 
it  came  to  the  Hebrew  prophet,  to  go  forth  to 
a  bitter  and  inglorious  duty,  —  whether  the  call 
comes  in  light  or  in  darkness,  in  health  or  in 
suffering,  may  we,  the  wearers  of  the  Purple, 

127 


WILLIAMS  COLLEGE 

mindful  of  its  message,  answer  as  the  Hebrew 
prophet  answered,  *«Here  am  I;  send  me." 

Mr.  Mabie: 

Now  that  the  nation's  needs  have  been  properly 
and  officially  recognized,  and  that  the  usual  tribute 
to  woman  has  been  paid,  I  declare  Harry  Augus- 
tus Garfield  duly  inaugurated  President  of  Wil- 
liams College. 

Immediately  after  the  luncheon  a  large  number 
of  delegates,  guests,  and  Alumni  of  the  College 
attended  a  reception  given  by  the  President  and 
Mrs.  Garfield  at  the  President's  house. 


